Dirty Business: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

Based on a decade-long investigation into England's water companies, and telling the real stories of whistleblowers and victims who believe their lives have been destroyed after encountering sewage polluted water, Dirty Business is a major new factual drama investigating one of the biggest potential corporate scandals in British history.

Dirty Business follows the story of two unlikely detectives, who notice that the fish in the river running through their idyllic Oxfordshire hamlet are dying. They contact their water company to find out why, and the company's strange and evasive reply sparks an investigation that remains ongoing to this day.

Series details

• Title: Dirty Business
• Format: Scripted
• Language: English
• Genres: Drama
• Premiere date: 2026-02-23
• Final broadcast date listed: 2026-02-25
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: Channel 4
• Network country: United Kingdom
• Typical episode runtime: 65 minutes
• TVmaze community rating: 8.5/10
• TVMaze ID: 89912
• IMDb ID: tt39374202
• TVDB ID: 472879

Cast and credited roles

• David Thewlis — Ashley Smith
• Jason Watkins — Peter Hammond

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 2026-02-23; final listed air date 2026-02-25; episode order: 3.

Source and licence

Adapted from Dirty Business on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.