Channel 4’s new drama stinks – with good reason

Channel 4 have announced a new drama series which will explore Britain’s ongoing sewage crisis.

Titled Isle of Sh*te, this factual drama aims to do for the UK’s rivers of waste what the 2023 tell-all Partygate did for the Tories.

The show will follow two unlikely small-town detectives as they investigate the sudden disappearance of the fish in their local river.

From there, they uncover a country-wide conspiracy which sparks a decade long investigation into one of the foulest corporate scandals in British history.

Sound – sorry, smell – familiar?

It should do, as its going on in a river – and even seaside – near you as we speak.

The series will be written and directed by Joseph Bullman, the mind behind last year’s Partygate.

Partygate revealed the inner workings of the Conservative party (emphasis on party) and their behaviour behind closed doors (specifically, the door of No.10 Downing Street) during lockdown.

Speaking of Channel 4’s decision to commission his new series, Joseph said:’Channel 4 was the only broadcaster that could have made Partygate, and its decision to commission Isle of Sh*te (w/t) is just as brave because it explores corporate law breaking, and a national scandal which, in terms of the amounts of money extracted from the British public, has the potential to dwarf other scandals which have come to light in recent years.’

Of the new series, Rita Daniels, Commissioning Editor for Channel 4 said: ‘For too long, the UK water companies have been swimming in profits, whilst our rivers and seas are drowning in sewage.

‘We are once again thrilled to be working with the exemplary team behind Partygate, and this time Isle of Sh*te (w/t) will flush out a story of corporate greed, exposing how these companies have been able to get away with polluting our precious resources for so long.’

Last year, water companies in the UK dumped raw sewage into Britain’s waterways for 3.6 million hours – the equivalent of 410 years of sewage-dumping in a single year.

Aside from being disgusting, it’s also highly dangerous, with sewage being a hotbed for parasites which include E-Coli, COVID, unmetabolised drugs and other human pathogens.

This isn’t the first time that Channel 4 have drawn attention to the nation’s pollution problem. Earlier this year, Birmingham comedian Joe Lycett highlighted the issue during the documentary Joe Lycett vs. Sewage.

During the show, Joe rolled out a series of stunts to raise awareness for what’s going on in our waterways.

This included the release of his ‘Turdcast’ podcast, and a live event which saw him ‘accidentally’ befouling Albert Dock in Liverpool with the contents of his Turdis.

During the show, Joe provided a sample of his own to scientist Dr Francis, who showed the comedian how waste is broken down in the sewage network. This saw him fleeing in disgust as he then attempted to escape the room.

‘Oh! Oh my God! It stinks! Go out,’ he beseeched to the camera crew as he fled the scene.

In recent years, the system meant to deal with the country’s waste has crumbled, with Wessex, Thames and Southern Water releasing sewage into the wild across 3500 hours in 2022.

Water companies are only ever supposed to spill over in the event of heavy rain, thereby diluting the contents and not flooding areas with raw sewage.

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