Climate crisis on screen: ‘It was dystopian – now it feels contemporary’
First-time mothers battling apocalyptic flooding – it’s a storyline we’d like to confine to the realms of fantasy drama – but the author of The End We Start From says it’s a case of fiction becoming reality.
Megan Hunter tells Sky News: “It was the dystopian future novel. But now when people talk about the film, they talk about the present moment. It doesn’t really feel so future-orientated anymore unfortunately, it feels more relevant in a directly contemporary way.”
The novel, which she wrote in 2017, has been made into a film starring Jodie Comer as the nameless female protagonist fighting to survive in a waterlogged London.
Hunter says now, just six years on from finishing the book, “it feels a bit more like that is happening here.”
She adds: “There was that sense of, this isn’t something that happens to other people elsewhere, you know, far away. This is something that could happen here.”
The book was partly inspired by an out-of-print anthology of creation mythology she had on her bookshelf “about different ways people around the world have thought about how the world began and also how the world might end”.
With potential End Times being a pretty big plot point to digest, Hunter explains she brought together the universal – “our relationship to the world – to water, nature and the planet over thousands of years of human thought” – with a very personal story of “one woman in London making jokes about Match Of The Day”.
A mother to two young children herself, she says: “Watching a lot of disaster films I’d seen in the past, I didn’t feel that those characters were that relatable to me. They didn’t feel three-dimensional. I really wanted these people to feel completely real.
“We see the woman breastfeeding the baby. We see all of this kind of intimacy, this kind of closeness between people, and to bring that together with the much bigger picture, this much more global scenario. It brings it home.”
Jodie Comer – a first-time mother adrift in The End We Start From. Pic: Anika Molnar
Hunter says by telling the story this way it becomes “very present, very real” and “very hard to turn away”.
We can feel ‘stifled’ by fear
The film’s star, Jodie Comer, tells Sky News she recognises the dilemma of wanting to close your eyes to the climate catastrophe.
“I think we all feel incredibly overwhelmed by it is my worry. You know, I think it can be very scary. And I think as a result of that, we can feel stifled and not know what it is that we can do.”
Pic: Anika Molnar
The film’s director, Mahalia Belo, hopes the movie could encourage those in power to sit up and take note.
“The feeling is that it’s inevitable to some extent, unless some change happens and unless people who have some ability to make change actually really listen to what experts are saying and basically make sure that we aren’t living in a challenging state in the future.
“Everybody knows we’re on an island. Sea levels will rise at some point. You know what’s going to happen.”
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Meanwhile, Sophie Rundle, the lead star of ITV drama After The Flood says the whole point of art is to reflect the world around us.
Sophie Rundle as PC Jo Marshall in After The Flood. Pic: ITV
Northern communities left ‘decimated’
She plays heavily pregnant PC Jo Marshall in the police procedural, where again we see a community left reeling by extensive flooding.
Rundle tells Sky News: “A show purely about climate change might be quite hard to watch or might be quite isolating – it’s such an enormous conversation that we need to be having…
“I think people can be overwhelmed by headlines. And what do you do? Where do you begin? When do you begin talking when you see wildfires and flooding…
“How do we distil that conversation down into a human drama that we are comfortable with? Perhaps comfortable is the wrong word but is accessible to us.”
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With the climate crisis storyline working away behind the scenes, Rundle says the show can focus on the effects such catastrophes might have on society.
“What is the impact on you and your neighbours and the people on the street? On the people in your community? That’s what we are seeing happening, especially in smaller communities up in the north, towns are being decimated. There is no infrastructure in place to protect them. So, what does that world look like?”
‘Light in the darkness’
She credits the show’s writer, Mick Ford, with telling the story in a way that makes people think while still enjoying the ride.
“He draws this community, this collective of people and says, ‘There’s this huge flood, what happens next?’ And I think that’s palatable for people and that’s a way into this conversation while still being entertaining and still being exciting and thrilling.
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For all the doom and gloom around the future of the planet, such cultural explorations of the climate crisis in TV and film undoubtedly raise awareness and open up the conversation – small but necessary steps to making change.
Looking to the future, the author of The End We Start From remains optimistic.
“I think if we feel hopeless, then it can feel like there’s nothing that can be done. It can feel like a stuck end position. So, I do believe in having hope and continuing to look for the light in the darkness.”
The End We Start From is in cinemas now and After The Flood is on Wednesdays at 9pm on ITV1 or all there to stream on ITVX.
The Salt Path author Raynor Winn’s fourth book has been delayed by her publisher.
It comes amid claims that the author lied about her story in her hit first book. Winn previously described the claims as “highly misleading” and called suggestions that her husband had Moth made up his illness “utterly vile”.
In a statement, Penguin Michael Joseph, said it had delayed the publication of Winn’s latest book On Winter Hill – which had been set for release 23 October.
The publisher said the decision had been made in light of “recent events, in particular intrusive conjecture around Moth’s health”, which it said had caused “considerable distress” to the author and her family.
“It is our priority to support the author at this time,” the publisher said.
“With this in mind, Penguin Michael Joseph, together with the author, has made the decision to delay the publication of On Winter Hill from this October.”
A new release date will be announced in due course, the publisher added.
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Winn’s first book, released in 2018, detailed the journey she and husband took along the South West Coast Path – familiarly known as The Salt Path – after they lost their family farm and Moth received a terminal health diagnosis of Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD).
But a report in The Observer disputed key aspects of the 2018 “true” story – which was recently turned into a film starring Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson.
Raynor and husband Moth (centre) with actors Jason Isaacs (L) and Gillian Anderson (R). Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
Experts ‘sceptical of health claims’
As part of the article, published last weekend, The Observer claimed to have spoken to experts who were “sceptical” about elements of Moth’s terminal diagnosis, such as a “lack of acute symptoms and his apparent ability to reverse them”.
In the ensuing controversy, PSPA, a charity that supports people with CBD, cut ties with the couple.
The Observer article also claimed the portrayal of a failed investment in a friend’s business wasn’t true, but said the couple – whose names are Sally and Tim Walker – lost their home after Raynor Winn embezzled money from her employer and had to borrow to pay it back and avoid police action.
Anderson played Winn in a movie about the couple’s journey. Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
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It also said that, rather than being homeless, the couple had owned a house in France since 2007.
Winn’s statement said the dispute with her employer wasn’t the reason the couple lost their home – but admitted she may have made “mistakes” while in the job.
“For me it was a pressured time,” she wrote. “It was also a time when mistakes were being made in the business. Any mistakes I made during the years in that office, I deeply regret, and I am truly sorry.”
She admitted being questioned by police but said she wasn’t charged.
The author also said accusations that Moth lied about having CBD/CBS were false and had “emotionally devastated” him.
“I have charted Moth’s condition with such a level of honesty, that this is the most unbearable of the allegations,” Winn wrote on her website.
The first fan started queuing before 8am.
Heaton Park, just north of Manchester City centre, is tonight hosting 80,000 fans who’ve come to see the Gallaghers’ homecoming.
“I would honestly say it’s a real cultural moment of the 21st century,” says Sam, who’s from Manchester and has come here with a group of friends – including one who has travelled from Australia for the gig.
Oasis fans wear band T-shirts with the almost obligatory bucket hats. Pic: Reuters
This will be the fourth time Sam has seen Oasis play, although obviously not for many years, and he says he can’t wait for the moment the band comes on to the stage.
“The reaction from the fans, that’s going to be really special,” he says. “This band means so much to the North West.”
Like many people attending tonight’s concert, Sam is wearing a bucket hat.
Liam Gallagher’s iconic headgear has become a part of the band’s cultural legacy and they are certainly on display here, with street vendors popping up all around the park’s perimeter.
Another fan, Dean, tells me he feels incredibly lucky to have got a ticket at all.
“I had seven devices out when the tickets were released and I didn’t get one,” he says. “And then about three days ago, a friend of mine messaged to say she couldn’t make it.
“So I made it. £120 with coach travel there and back – perfect.”
Dom has flown from half a world away to be in Manchester tonight
Dom is another fan who has come from Australia for the gig.
“We’re frothing to be here, like so stoked,” he says, “The atmosphere is going to be electric.”
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One young couple are here on their honeymoon. From Italy, they met at a Liam Gallagher concert several years ago.
“It’s where we fell in love,” Claudia says. “And we got married last month so we wanted to be here to celebrate.”
Amanda, from Manchester, is also here with a loved one – well, sort of.
Amanda has found a way to make sure her son, who lives in Australia, is there in spirit
She’s wearing a paper cut-out mask of her 30-year-old son Harry’s face.
“He’s in Melbourne and got a ticket but then couldn’t come,” Amanda explains.
“And so Harry doesn’t feel left out,” she says pulling the mask down over her face, “we’ve brought him with us!”
Entertainment
Chris Brown: R&B singer denies further charges following alleged bottle attack in London club
R&B singer Chris Brown has denied further charges following an alleged bottle attack in a London nightclub.
The 36-year-old pleaded not guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) to music producer Abraham Diaw, during a hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Friday.
Brown also denied one count of having an offensive weapon – a bottle – in a public place.
Chris Brown arriving at Southwark Crown Court on Friday. Pic: PA
The Grammy-winning US musician last month pleaded not guilty to a more serious charge of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent to Mr Diaw.
The attack allegedly happened at the Tape venue, a private members’ club in Hanover Square, Mayfair, on 19 February 2023.
The plea hearing is part of preparations for his five to seven-day trial, which is due to take place from 26 October 2026.
Brown’s co-defendant, US national Omololu Akinlolu, 39, on Friday pleaded not guilty to a charge of assaulting Mr Diaw occasioning him actual bodily harm.
Akinlolu, a rapper who goes by the name Hoody Baby, has previously pleaded not guilty to attempting to cause grievous bodily harm.
Brown’s co-defendant Omololu Akinlolu arrives at court. Pic: Reuters
The defendants sat side-by-side in the dock, looking straight ahead during the hearing in London.
Around 20 fans sat in the public gallery behind the dock for Friday’s hearing, with several gasping as Brown walked into the courtroom.
The Go Crazy singer was able to continue with his scheduled international tour after he was freed on conditional bail in May.
He had to pay a £5m security fee to the court as part of the bail agreement, which is a financial guarantee to ensure a defendant returns to court and may be forfeited if they breach bail conditions.
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Mr Diaw was standing at the bar of the Tape nightclub when he was struck several times with a bottle, and then pursued to a separate area of the venue where he was punched and kicked repeatedly, Manchester Magistrates’ Court previously heard.
Brown was arrested at Manchester’s Lowry Hotel at 2am on 15 May by detectives from the Metropolitan Police.
He is said to have flown into Manchester Airport on a private jet in preparation for the UK tour dates.
Brown was released from HMP Forest Bank in Salford, Greater Manchester, on 21 May.
The singer, who rose to stardom as a teenager in 2005, won his first Grammy award for best R&B album in 2011 for F.A.M.E..
He earned his second in the same category for 11:11 (Deluxe) earlier this year.
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