<P> In 1986, the British television production company Granada Television created a near - full size replica of the post-1950 House of Commons debating chamber at its studios in Manchester for use in its adaptation of the Jeffrey Archer novel First Among Equals . The set was highly convincing, and was retained after the production--since then, it has been used in nearly every British film and television production that has featured scenes set in the chamber . From 1988 until 1999 it was also one of the prominent attractions on the Granada Studios Tour, where visitors could watch actors performing mock political debates on the set . The major difference between the studio set and the real House of Commons Chamber is that the studio set has just four rows of seats on either side whereas the real Chamber has five . </P> <P> In 2002, the set was purchased by the scriptwriter Paul Abbott so that it could be used in his BBC drama serial State of Play . Abbott, a former Granada Television staff writer, bought it personally as the set would otherwise have been destroyed and he feared it would take too long to get the necessary money from the BBC . Abbott kept the set in storage in Oxford . </P> <P> The post-1941 Commons Chamber was used in the film Ali G Indahouse, the political satire Restart by Komedy Kollective, about a British prime minister seeking re-election, and was mentioned in the Robin Williams stand - up special Robin Williams Live on Broadway in which he describes it as "like Congress, but with a two drink minimum". The pre-1941 Chamber was recreated in Shepperton Studios for the Ridley Scott / Richard Loncraine 2002 biographical film on Churchill, The Gathering Storm . </P>

Where does the prime minister sit in parliament