Dirty Business - Channel 4
- Ash
- 9 hours ago
- 2 min read
The publicity has been exceptional but in case you haven't seen the ads,
Channel 4 will air Dirty Business, a factual drama about the sewage scandal at 9pm on Monday 23rd February, with three episodes over 3 consecutive days.
This is a powerful piece of work from a remarkable production team, cast and crew. It has received massive support from Channel 4 and you will see why.
It is a factual drama - hence it is a dramatised account of some of the many investigations and analyses conducted by two of WASP's founder members, Prof Peter Hammond and Ash Smith, since 2017. WASP is a bigger team than that, but this focuses on the early days and key events.
It is about things that really happened, but not necessarily a blow-by-blow account, which would take many hours to recount.
It is certainly not only about WASP, as you will see, as shocking and tragic events unfold.
Some of the scenes, such as public meetings, represent a combination of events and the interactions with whistleblowers are used as a dramatic device to reveal the results of WASP's own enquiries as well as the information given by brave individuals to the producers.
WASP does not discuss its engagement with confidential sources.
The WASP team engaged with the Dirty Business producers for over 2 years, providing written and photographic evidence to support all of the storylines used in the episodes, sometimes to enable the use of the exact words used by the subjects.
At the start of the process, we wondered how it would be possible to weave the narrative threads of a national scandal into a coherent, honest, and engaging piece, and now we know.
We engaged in this project because we thought it could make a difference and break the cycle of pollution for profit and promises of stronger regulation that have gone on for over 30 years. Illegal pollution, regulatory capture, government indifference and even complicity lie at the heart of this scandal, but it does not have to be this way.
What happens next is something we can all play a part in - more to come on that.
Well done WASP. This is mammoth and so impressive. Can’t wait to watch. Thank you for all the incredible work you have done to clean up our river and rivers.