RSC partners with Hollywood star Michael Sheen and investigative reporters for new series of award-winning BBC podcast 'Buried'
Hollywood actor Michael Sheen, a husband-and-wife investigative duo, and the 91AV have joined forces for the second series of an award-winning podcast on the BBC.
True crime series '' powerfully tells a dark story of environmental scandal linked to forever chemicals. The whole podcast series is available now on BBC iPlayer and has been playing on Radio 4.
This second series is centred on the work of environmental whistleblower Douglas Gowan, who sought to shine a spotlight on toxic chemicals escaping from a landfill near farmland in Wales in the 1960s and who recorded his final testimony with Sheen in 2017.
Nearly 60 years on from Gowan's initial discovery, the podcast revealed just how prevalent some banned polychlorinated-biphenyls [PCBs] are in our society. Investigative reporters and producers Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor approached us about the project as they looked for answers.
We supported the testing conducted in the making of the programme, led by Dr David Megson from Manchester Metropolitan University and our Environmental Policy Group. The results were shocking as research conducted for the show found .
"I think the most shocking thing that has been uncovered has been the scale of the problems, and the scale of the potential dangers to people," said Sheen.
"It's not just about this particular aspect of it but what this is connected to – the idea of ‘forever chemicals’, the idea of toxic chemicals that don’t degrade; how prevalent and how much it is in our lives.
"It’s so overwhelming, once you start to discover the truth about this, that I can see why it makes people not do anything about it - because it’s too much, it’s almost too much for our brain to take in, so that was the most shocking aspect of it for me."
Building the case for a UK Chemicals Agency
Our resident forever chemicals policy expert, Stephanie Metzger, contributed to the new series to highlight just how many forever chemicals need monitoring and regulating, and the lack of capacity in the UK to deal with this effectively.
That's why the next government needs to create an independent, well-funded UK Chemicals Agency to protect our environment and our health, and get better value for money for taxpayers.
Find out more about forever chemicals and write to your political representatives using the tool on our Chemicals Agency page.
- is available to listen now on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
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