By Dan Rebellato. History and fiction combine in this offbeat and humorous look at the 19th-century rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament. Charles Barry and Augustus Welby Pugin work at opposite ends of the architectural spectrum.
When the Houses of Parliament explode and St Stephen's Tower (Big Ben) rockets into the sky, their problems have only just begun - the crazed recriminations lead everyone in different directions. On the suggestion of the clerk to the House of Commons, Erskine May, they have just 12 hours to rebuild Parliament before Queen Victoria arrives to open it.
Director Polly Thomas