The programme has been titled ‘Isle of Sh*te’…
Rita Daniels, Commissioning Editor for Channel 4:
“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.”
This factual drama from the makers of Channel 4’s Partygate, follows the story of two unlikely detectives, who start to notice that the fish in the river running through their idyllic Oxfordshire hamlet are disappearing. They contact their water company to find out why, and the company’s strange reply sparks a decade-long investigation which will uncover what may become the worst corporate scandal in British history.
Last year the UK’s water companies dumped raw sewage into Britain’s waterways for 3.6 million hours – that’s the equivalent of 410 years of sewage-dumping in a single year. The sewage contains a cocktail of parasites, bacteria, including E-Coli, viruses, including Covid, unmetabolised drugs, including antibiotics and cocaine, along with other human pathogens.
Most of the dumping is illegal. Water companies have been prosecuted at least 59 times since 2015 — but they go on dumping. Sewage discharges have more than doubled since last year – and hospital admissions for waterborne diseases have risen by 60%.
Writer and Director Joseph Bullman:
“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.”
The programme is the third on Channel 4 to look at the sewage issue with UK water companies following an episode of Dispatches and also a special fronted by Joe Lycett.
