London Flood movie gets TV premiere

Flood – which was released as a movie last year – is now being shown on ITV1 as a two-part drama. It features local landmarks including Tower Bridge, the London Eye and St Thomas' Hospital as a tidal surge puts the lives of millions of Londoners at risk.

The cast includes Robert Carlyle, Jesslyn Gilsig, Tom Courtenay, David Suchet, Joanne Whalley, Nigel Planer and Tom Hardy.

Each episode will be followed by an on-screen credit directing viewers to the Environment Agency's Floodline. Earlier this year the agency reorganised its flood warning service for London. In flood planning terms SE1 falls within the Bermondsey embayment which covers the area south of the river between the River Wandle and Deptford Creek.

"This two part series offers up some pretty scary scenes of London engulfed in a tidal wave of water," says Steve East from the Environment Agency.

"In reality, a team of Environment Agency engineers and operations staff at the Thames Barrier work continuously to ensure that this remains firm fiction, with most recent modelling showing that the Barrier can withstand expected flood pressures for many years to come.

"Of course, it is also right that we plan for the future, and we have a team of experts already looking ahead to the year 2100 and beyond.

"The Thames Barrier is a structure admired the world over for its efficiency and resilience. This production may be a work of fiction but it has served to highlight the challenges and investment needed to maintain effective flood management programmes in the UK."

The film was shot in studios in South Africa and on location in London in 2006.

• Flood is on ITV1 on Sunday 4 and Monday 5 May.