In the late 1960s, nurse and embryologist Jean Purdy, scientist Robert Edwards and surgeon Patrick Steptoe conceived that advances in medicine would allow them to oversee the fertilisation of an egg in vitro. The impact should they succeed would be seismic. But for every tiny step forward, the three faced the rancour of the Church, medical and political establishment, who saw their work as an aberration.

Ben Taylor’s finely tuned debut boasts an impressive cast working to Jack Thorne’s script, which covers the crucial ten-year period when three unlikely individuals and countless brave women worked together to develop this groundbreaking medical science that has changed the lives of millions across the globe.

Presented as part of the 68th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express.