Few films of its period presented a more intelligent, plausible and chilling depiction of the destructive potential of atomic power than director Val Guest’s gripping excursion into apocalyptic cinema. A down-on-his luck journalist investigates the reasons behind the world’s unusually changeable weather conditions and uncovers the alarming cause: the Earth has been knocked off its axis by worldwide nuclear testing and the planet’s climate zones have been displaced. Cue tropical storms in London.

Guest was determined to imbue the film with the ring of authenticity, from shooting on London locations as much as possible to providing a realistically realised newspaper background. This determination extended to recreating the newsroom of the Daily Express in meticulous detail in the studio, something that no doubt helped the large cast of familiar faces, aided by a British Academy Award-winning script by Guest and Wolf Mankowitz, give believable, sure footed performances as the staff of a national newspaper. A work of compelling power, the film remains the most accomplished of all Guest’s works.