Dirty Business: dirty business review that should incite righteous anger
Dirty Business is based on the true story of amateur sleuths appalled at the dumping of sewage in our rivers. Joseph Bullman’s drama-documentary, starring David Thewlis, presents a sustained argument that decades of underinvestment and regulatory failure have left rivers and seas repeatedly tainted by untreated sewage.
Two neighbours spot the problem
Set in the Cotswolds in 2016, two neighbours, recently retired and hungry for a project, notice brown murk in the previously beautiful River Windrush. Ashley Smith, played by David Thewlis, is portrayed as a real-life Line of Duty cop who had been investigating corrupt cops. Peter Hammond, played by Jason Watkins, is shown as an Oxford maths professor. Together they look into a curious dumping of sewage after the explanation given by the privatised local water company does not add up, and they dig in.
Methods and findings
Ash’s infallible nose for dishonesty combines with the algorithm Peter devises to find patterns in confusing data. Their work builds a picture of water infrastructure destroyed by three decades of underinvestment, leading to environmental calamity on a staggering scale across the country, with thousands of instances of rivers and seas tainted by untreated sewage. Real footage, shot by campaigners to show the extent of the damage, is woven into the drama.
Dirty Business in 2016
The 2016 strand captures blunt, often humorous exchanges: faux-mocking banter between the garrulous Ash and the nervy Peter that is as funny as it is disquieting. The programme uses comedy as a weapon, beginning with corporate statements the pair receive—supercilious evasions that are played direct to camera by actors portraying executives.
1999 holiday becomes tragedy
A second timeline begins in 1999, when Mark and Julie Preen, played by Tom McKay and Posy Sterling, take their two daughters on holiday to Dawlish in Devon because it has Blue Flag status, indicating a clean beach. They discover what appears to be effluent pumping out of a pipe on the shore. Eight-year-old Heather steps in the dirty water; within two weeks she has died from E coli O157 poisoning.
Inquest, coroner and recommendations
Ultimately, the cause of the outbreak was not identified, and a jury returned a verdict of misadventure. The coroner’s recommendations included the tertiary treatment of all sewage in the area to make it pathogen-free, as well as a summertime ban on dogs on the beach. The Preens’ true story in the drama ends with a further tragedy drawn with devastating starkness.
Regulator strand begins in 2008
When the two men realise the problem is as much with the regulator, the Environment Agency, as it is with the water companies, a third strand begins in the EA offices in 2008 and the dark absurdity intensifies. A change is announced towards the end of the Labour administration; those effects are shown to be greatly worsened by David Cameron’s drive to cut spending and slash regulation in the 2010s: “operational self-monitoring” moves the burden of identifying potential breaches of environmental law from the EA unclear in the provided context.
Campaigning and public pressure
The tone of the drama underscores how television drama can intensify public disgust at a scandal and force official attitudes to change, with the series framed as a possible successor in impact to Mr Bates vs the Post Office. Complementing the drama, an appeal titled "End the sewage pollution scandal" is promoted with the address 10 Queen Street Place, First Floor, EC4R 1BE, London and the registered company number 06642193 in England and Wales, with registered office at 10 Queen Street Place, First Floor, EC4R 1BE, London, UK.
Joseph Bullman’s construction—interweaving the Cotswolds investigation, the Preen family’s horror and the EA offices—uses humour, technique and real campaign footage to mount an unanswerable case that the water pollution problem is systemic, wide-ranging and devastating in human and environmental consequences.
Dirty Business lays out a clear sequence of events across 1999, 2008 and 2016, names the people involved, records the coroner’s recommendations and highlights the regulatory and political changes in the 2010s; where the source material is incomplete, the review notes that the detail is unclear in the provided context.
