Dirty coasts are 'no joke' says comedian Nish Kumar

Mr Kumar plays a presenter on fictional news channel exploring a sewage ridden beach

Comedian Nish Kumar has teamed up with Friends of the Earth to call for more to be done to protect England's coastlines.

It comes after research from the environmental charity found sewage was pumped directly into the country's seas for over 440,000 hours last year.

Over a quarter of these spills occurred within 3km of bathing sites and beaches on the Isle of Wight were some of the worst affected.

Southern Water said reducing the number of storm releases in the region is its "top priority."

Cowes beach on the Isle of Wight was found to be the most impacted by pollution and it saw 4,979 hours of sewage spills in 2023.

The island was hit by heavy rainfall and flooding caused by Storm Ciarán in October.

Nish Kumar is fronting a new film with Friends of the Earth, taking a satirical slant on the pollution scandal.

In the piece Mr Kumar plays a presenter on fictional news channel exploring a new tourist attraction which is a sewage ridden beach.

Comedian Nish Kumar said "we’ll all be swapping our swimmers for hazmat suits" when we go to the beach

Comedian Nish Kumar said the record-breaking amount of pollution clogging up our rivers and seas is "no joke."

He added: "If we don’t act now, we’ll all be swapping our swimmers for hazmat suits and packing an E. coli testing kit before hitting the great British seaside this summer.

“We can’t let water companies have the last laugh, as their shareholders pocket huge payouts while our bills increase."

'Rainiest 18 months'

Director for Wastewater Operations for Southern Water, John Penicud, said:

“Slashing the number of storm releases across our region is top priority for us - and our customers.

"Last November we announced our £1.5bn storm overflow reduction plan which will combine innovative engineering with nature-based solutions.

“The past 18 months have been the rainiest since records began. The ground was utterly waterlogged in many areas, inundating our own sewers and customers’ drains and sewers.

“We’re extensively relining sewers, to keep sewage in and rainwater out, and our storm release reduction pilot schemes have already proved that nature-based systems can have a real impact.”