‘Her waters break and the flood comes’: author behind new Jodie Comer film on motherhood in an apocalyptic London

The End We Start From, Megan Hunter’s 2017 novel about a mother and her baby in a flooded city, seems increasingly timely. As the film is released, she reveals why she wanted a more female-centred take on disaster survival movies

At an unknown point in the near future, a woman is giving birth. As her contractions start, her home in London is flooded and, as her baby is born, it becomes clear that a climate catastrophe of biblical proportions has begun. A sea of water invades the city as the woman takes her first postpartum, post-apocalyptic pee, then flees for higher ground with her newborn in a car seat.

So begins the story of a new survival film starring the British actor Jodie Comer. The End We Start From goes on general release in UK and Irish cinemas from Friday and has a star-studded cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Joel Fry, Gina McKee, Nina Sosanya and Mark Strong all appear alongside Comer.