Rowan Atkinson cameos as an obstetrician.

Since he chalked up his first TV writing credit with cult series The Young Ones shortly after graduating from Manchester University Drama Department, Elton has been one of Britain’s most prolific and popular writers: Sam’s writer’s block is surely one of the things in Maybe Baby not based on fact. He fronted a late-night TV show; wrote TV comedies such as Blackadder and The Thin Blue Line; and has published a string of best-selling novels (Stark, Gridlock, Popcorn, Blast From the Past). His fertility as a writer is increased by the fact that most of his major successes have been immediately adapted into other forms: Stark was a TV series as well as a novel; Popcorn was a successful West End play - where it won an Olivier Award. It, too, may become a film.

“Joel Schumacher really wanted to make Popcorn and we had a lot of meetings,” he says. “I actually went to Hollywood and we developed a script for him. Then Batman Forever went on forever and Joel’s window closed, so that was that. But in fact, Popcorn’s been nibbled at almost continually. Claude Berri, who made Manon des Sources and Jean de Florette, saw the French production and he’s been wanting to produce it.

Writer/Director Ben Elton on set.

“Obviously everyone loves films,” continues Elton, scarcely pausing for breath. “I love novels and I love plays and I love telly, but movies are an area I’ve never got right into before now. It takes a long bloody time: it’s not like I just snapped my fingers and said ‘I’m going to make a film’.

“But this is a story that lends itself to film. It couldn’t be a sitcom because it’s got a beginning, a middle and an end. And it’s a much bigger story than a play. There’s not a specific cinematic reason, not like with Lawrence of Arabia: I can understand why that was a film and not a stage play. But Maybe Baby, when you see it, you’ll say ‘I’m glad they made that into a movie - there are a hundred things they did there that couldn’t be done on the stage’.”

It’s very much a London comedy, even if it does avoid the currently fashionable Notting Hill area. “I wanted to give it a lot more air,” says Elton. “It takes place within the film industry, so that’s one fun thing: it takes place all over London.