When the TV show Killing Eve first aired, it was the perfect vehicle to showcase the talents of Jodie Comer, who played Villanelle, which made her a star.

It’s no surprise then that Hollywood quickly came a calling when it ended in 2022. But despite the offers of blockbusters, Comer still chooses to stay on home soil, treading the boards in theatre, as well as starring in this low budget BBC film.

Living in London are a woman (Comer) and R (Joel Fry). She is heavily pregnant and is expected to give birth shortly, which isn’t great timing as there are unnatural weather conditions at play, causing severe flooding.

She manages to give birth without incident – just – as the hospital is evacuated, but as their home is flooded, they have to look further afield. R’s parents live on relatively high ground, so they make their way there, through much chaos on the roads. But even there, safety is an issue, and she and her new baby soon find themselves not only facing the force of nature, but the human fallout debris from it.

This marks the theatrical directorial debut for Mahalia Belo, coming up through the ranks of TV as she has done, with a story based on the novel of the same name by Megan Hunter.

And Belo does an exceptional job of making her film look the type of film with a bigger budget, tending to stay clear of wide shots for more intimately framed ones. This certainly helps with capturing the expressions of her characters, without having to really reference what they’re looking at, making for a relatively cheap disaster film.

Not that it is that, it’s a little more intimate than that, focusing on the mother’s journey, and the need to protect her newborn.

Not only does Belo have the talents of Comer at hand, but also ropes in some impressive supporting actors too, including Mark Strong and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Unfortunately for the film, the script is a little on the wet side, offering little by way of originality or drama. If it’s to be believed that the UK has disintegrated into a lawless society, the film struggles expressing any genuine threat, making for what ultimately is an inconvenient road trip, with any rough edges well and truly filed down.

Although the film isn’t a total disaster – on the natural front which you’re kind of hoping for - Comer is engaging throughout, and Belo does a fine job with the look and feel of the film, so it’s far from being a complete washout.