Dirty Business Review: A Powerful Indictment of the Sewage Crisis
Channel 4's three-part drama Dirty Business, featuring a magnificent performance from David Thewlis, delivers an enraging and compelling exploration of England's sewage pollution scandal. This campaigning television series will undoubtedly leave viewers furious and politicians squirming as it exposes systemic failures in environmental regulation.
Setting the Bar for Campaigning Television
The bar for impactful British television drama remains exceptionally high, with recent successes like Mr Bates vs The Post Office and Adolescence setting formidable standards. Following in the tradition of Ken Loach's groundbreaking Cathy Come Home, Dirty Business identifies something profoundly rotten in contemporary society: the deliberate pollution of England's waterways by privately owned water companies.
For at least two decades, these corporations have generated enormous profits while knowingly discharging untreated sewage containing faeces, sanitary towels, and condoms into rivers and coastal waters. Filmmaker Joseph Bullman transforms this environmental catastrophe into an instruction manual for holding powerful institutions accountable, ensuring that the metaphorical excrement finally hits the fan.
Compelling Characters and Nuanced Performances
Jason Watkins and David Thewlis deliver warm, nuanced portrayals as Peter and Ash, two middle-aged Cotswolds neighbours who combine their expertise from 2019 onward. Peter, a biologist, and Ash, a former police officer, pool their knowledge and tenacity to investigate why the Environment Agency fails to regulate Thames Water and South West Water effectively.
Despite their comfortable circumstances, these characters emerge as entirely plausible everymen. Thewlis particularly excels through subtle micro-expressions, twitching in various ways as his jazz-hating character endures corporate doublespeak and bureaucratic evasion from water company executives.
Heartbreaking Personal Stories
Equally impressive are Posy Sterling and Tom McKay as Julie and Mark Preen, a Birmingham couple whose eight-year-old daughter Heather contracted E. coli in 1999 after exposure to sewage on a supposedly clean Devon beach. The script resists melodrama, presenting their tragedy with restrained power. There's no musical accompaniment when Julie and Mark hold their lifeless child in a hospital room, and Mark's subsequent guilt-induced depression and suicide are handled with devastating subtlety.
Though Mark quietly exits the narrative, both he and Heather continue to haunt the story, reminding viewers of the human cost behind environmental negligence.
Visual Storytelling and Structural Analysis
While Dirty Business inevitably involves numerous email exchanges, the visual presentation remains compelling throughout. Cinematographer John Pardue captures polluted rivers and beaches with what might be described as Paradise Lost energy, creating magnetic, murky textures reminiscent of Hieronymus Bosch meeting aquatic science fiction.
Strategic graphics help clarify complex regulatory issues, while the toxic workplace environment unfolds gradually through the experiences of two working-class whistleblowers. Asim Chaudhry portrays a technician maintaining dilapidated sewage plants, while Chanel Cresswell plays an Environment Agency employee who begins each day thinking "I f****ing hate my life!"
Class Dynamics and Corporate Villainy
Britain's class system permeates the narrative, particularly through Charlotte Ritchie's well-spoken EA executive Sophie, who greenwashes with sinister cheerfulness. Alice Lowe appears as Susan Davy, CEO of South West Water, who receives patronising advice from posh aides suggesting she's perfect for public relations because she's "almost one of them."
Town hall sequences feature authentic working-class voices expressing legitimate fury about water pollution, demonstrating that environmental protection transcends middle-class concerns.
Pointing Fingers at the Powerful
Dirty Business boldly identifies responsibility for the crisis, suggesting former Environment Agency leaders Sir James Bevan and Dr Toby Willison deserve punishment. While corporate executives from entities like the Macquarie Group aren't named directly, they're compared to "crime bosses" by Ash, highlighting the series' uncompromising stance.
Director Joseph Bullman previously created Channel 4's Partygate, which exposed Conservative hypocrisy during the pandemic. Dirty Business will likely provoke similar political discomfort, featuring footage that should embarrass figures including David Cameron, Liz Truss, former Labour environment minister Steve Reed, and even Sir Keir Starmer.
Beyond Holiday Concerns
While the drama might prompt viewers to check the Surfers Against Sewage app before swimming, its implications extend far beyond recreational concerns. With a by-election approaching and Green Party candidate Hannah Spencer campaigning on environmental issues, Dirty Business could influence political outcomes. Should Spencer win Gorton and Denton, she might well thank Channel 4 for highlighting how environmental protection affects everyone, regardless of social class.
