New Jersey, mid 1900s. Business is booming at the United States Radium Corporation. 

The company’s ability to meet the growing demand for painting luminescent dials onto watches is music to owner Arthur Roeder’s ears – and why wouldn’t it be with pioneering physicist Marie Curie encouraging radium into the mainstream?

Meanwhile on the factory floor, it’s a different story. Painters Grace, Irene and Kathryn are noticing disturbing changes in the women working alongside them. Deaths are hastily explained away; but media interest is building and soon enough, many injustices are uncovered. 

What unfolds is a fast-paced and shocking exploration into the workers behind a historical sensation, which impacted labour rights and health physics – but at what cost? Written with warmth, humour and dignity, Radium Girls is an unflinching tribute to the women racing against time.