The story is known to every British schoolchild. On the 5th November 1605, Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and murder the king. The plan failed, of course, when Fawkes was caught holding the fuse. But if Fawkes hadn’t been discovered, would it have worked?
To commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, in the biggest historical and scientific experiment of its kind ever seen on television, Richard Hammond sets off on a quest to detonate a metric tonne of gunpowder beneath a full-sized reconstruction of the original House of Lords.
On an old Cold War missile-testing site over a period of 2 months, building experts and engineers pour 650 tonnes of concrete into a steel framework to erect a ballistically accurate replica of the medieval building. The blast spectacularly demonstrates that had Fawkes managed to light the fuse the explosive force would have propelled the timber floor of the House of Lords upwards with such violence that King James I and everyone else in the chamber would have been killed.
“Irresistible to anyone with a weakness for the delicious combination of
immediate spectacle and delayed climax… Very satisfying”
The independent
“Best documentary - One to watch”
The Sun
“You’ll be glued”
Daily Mirror
“Thoroughly enjoyable spectacle”
Daily Express
“Explosive telly”
Daily Star
“Must see TV”
Daily Mail
“Stunning reconstruction”
Daily Mirror
“Explosive stuff”
TV Times
“A real cracker! Guido would surely have approved”
Radio Times
“A cross between mechannibals and Timewatch, its great fun and
there is a bit of proper history smuggled in there too”
Sunday Express
