The Thames Barrier will continue to protect London from North Sea storm surges for the rest of this century, even if global warming accelerates and sea level rises faster than expected, the Environment Agency says in a new study.

Later this spring ITV viewers will be presented with a dystopian vision of the capital submerged by a catastrophic storm surge at a cost of thousands of lives and billions of pounds in damage when the channel shows Flood, its £15m ($30m) disaster film.