Channel 4's latest factual-drama, Dirty Business, premieres on Monday, February 23 at 9pm. The three-part series, based on a decade-long investigation into England's water companies, airs on consecutive nights at the same time.
The drama follows two unlikely detectives, Ash (David Thewlis) and Peter (Jason Watkins), who notice fish dying in their local Oxfordshire river. Their enquiry to the water company receives an evasive reply, sparking an ongoing investigation.
David Thewlis, known for Harry Potter, plays Ash, a retired police officer. Jason Watkins, from The Crown and McDonald and Dodds, portrays Peter, a professor of computational biology. Asim Chaudhry (People Just Do Nothing) appears as Mickey, a whistleblowing sewage plant employee.
The series also tells the true story of the Preen family, whose eight-year-old daughter Heather died from E. coli 0157 after playing on a beach where sewage had been discharged. It follows young surfer Reuben, who believes his chronic illness, Meniere's disease, resulted from surfing in polluted water.
Thewlis said: 'What shocked me about this story was just how much has been allowed to go unchecked - two ordinary men uncovering negligence, illegal pollution, and corporate indifference that should never have been tolerated.'
