Actor Michael Sheen is investigating the potential dangers of toxic waste in the two-part documentary series "Buried." Sheen, channeling the dishevelled persona of the 1979 detective drama character Eddie Shoestring, explores communities affected by chemical waste leaching from underground dumps into water supplies.
The documentary follows Sheen as he travels across Wales and into Cheshire, visiting areas impacted by the environmental hazard. He also travels to the United States to hear about similar concerns.
Sheen's involvement began about a decade ago when he stumbled upon the story of a man who claimed people in Wales were being poisoned. This led him to National Farmers' Union environmentalist Douglas Gowan. Sheen, living in Los Angeles at the time, met with Gowan in 2018 and recorded a seven-hour interview. Gowan was in poor health and died a few weeks later.
The series highlights the potential threat posed by banned PCB chemical waste dumped in old quarries. PCBs, described as 'the Godfather of Forever Chemicals,' are known for their persistence in the environment. The documentary notes instances of children developing skin conditions after contact with contaminated water, clusters of tumors affecting dogs in proximity to dump sites, and the case of a farmer who died from blood cancer.
While definitively proving the chemicals' direct link to these health issues can be challenging, tests on the deceased farmer's land revealed PCB levels 2,000 times greater than average. The documentary presents Sheen's personal journey into this environmental issue, showing him reviewing his interview with Gowan in a cabin filled with maps and documents, reminiscent of a detective's investigation.
