In her Midlands home town, Sagal campaigns with helpers Destiny and Warren, returning to the family home to meet her brother Youssef and parents, Maryam and Freddie. At the local mosque, the Imam endorses her candidacy. Sagal sees her therapist to discuss the continuing grief from the death of her sister, Zahra. On election night, Sagal discovers she has won and is approached by Terrence, a renowned political fixer who has been sent to help he...
r integrate into the Westminster scene. We see how Sagal enters reveries; revealing all that has happened in a specific location throughout history in her visions. On this night, she also sees an apparition of her deceased sister.
Sagal travels to Parliament alongside the new intake of MPs where she is overwhelmed by the rush of London. Terrence explains that Georgie will be Sagal’s aide in Westminster and Sagal gets an insight into how the parliamentary estate is physically failing. She is taken to that house in Westminster she will share with other MPs’ aides. In her parliamentary office, Sagal meets lifelong MP Edward and facilities man Pete. The latter takes Sagal on a tour of the underrooms of parliament where she sees chambers, passageways and the sewage system, all at risk from flooding, fire or vermin infestation.
Sagal helps local people at her constituency surgery. She takes her team to dinner then flashes back to a family meal twelve years earlier when Zahra was struggling with her mental health. In Westminster’s Portcullis House, Terrence introduces Sagal to politicians with influence and explains how budget limitations mean the parliamentary estate isn’t being appropriately renovated. Sagal joins the other aides in the Strangers’ Bar where she hears about the sleazy or vicious behaviour of certain MPs and how there is rumoured to be a spreadsheet detailing suspected criminal behaviour among them. Sagal’s attention is caught by an attractive guest, flirting with the male politicians. In the bathroom, Carmen introduces herself as a performer and sex worker and she asks Sagal to work for change in her industry. Sagal’s dreams that night feature Carmen, along with memories of Zahra before taking a disturbing turn. She is awoken by unsettling carnal sounds in the next room which end when she investigates them. In the House of Commons, Sagal takes part in her first debate. This is brought to an abrupt conclusion when part of the ceiling gives way in a nearby corridor.
At Terrence’s home for dinner, Sagal meets Terrence’s wife Rebecca who, on learning of Sagal’s houseshare issues, implores Terrence to find Sagal new digs. Sagal finds out more about Terrence’s cross-party role before returning home to discover the media camped outside her house. The reporters begin to ask intrusive questions about the circumstances of Zahra’s death. Sagal finds stories about her family online while driven to her new London residence where the privileged and attractive Tiff welcomes her. In parliament, Sagal talks with a sympathetic female MP before the division bell calls her to the voting lobby. She backs a bill against rogue landlords but this is subsequently voted down. At Youssef’s house, Sagal’s brother rebukes her for bringing the press down on their family. He reveals there were medical failings around Zahra’s death, but Sagal was too young to understand at the time. Sagal mentions their Great Aunt Trudi who died of a kind of sleeping sickness, but Youssef plays down her concerns. Sagal meets Destiny in a nearby cafe for support while someone takes photos of their intimate embrace from outside, unseen.
Sagal’s journey back to London is delayed before she is accosted by a street performer. Carmen also happens to be travelling south and she intervenes to help. On the train to London, Carmen states her case for Sagal to raise a Private Members’ Bill reforming the laws around sex work. We hear Sagal’s recent exchange with her therapist who urged her to get more rest and relaxation. Youssef sends his sister a news story on the rare condition ‘Fatal Familial Insomnia’ which he believes killed their Great Aunt. Sagal sees her own recent experiences in the documented symptoms and grows terrified.
In Westminster, Sagal asks Georgie to arrange a genetic screening and tells her about the potential member’s bill. Carmen gives Sagal a free ticket to a night at a former working men’s club where she is performing. Here Sagal sees the history of the establishment in her mind’s eye before enjoying the provocative performances. But she is subsequently unsettled by seeing Terrence there, in a clinch with a younger woman. Sagal takes fright and leaves when she thinks another audience member is photographing her.
While praying in the women’s gallery of their local Mosque with her mother, Sagal tells Maryam about the genetic screening. Sagal talks of Zahra’s presence and her fears of going the same way as her sister. Maryam says Sagal is misguided and fills in the gaps: how Zahra wouldn’t be talked out of visiting relatives in an isolated African village where she was bitten by the Tsetse fly then failed by poor healthcare systems. Maryam explains that Zahra’s second sight manifested in knowing the fate of everyone she met.
The next constituency surgery goes badly and has to be stopped when a disgruntled local brings a mob of far-right agitators there to protest. Back at her London digs, Sagal suffers hallucinations before seeing Tiff naked. In the House of Commons, an exhausted Sagal prepares to ask her first question of the Prime Minister, but she is distracted by the screening results which reveal nothing amiss. Youssef phones, angry because the media are now camped outside their parents’ house. Terrence reveals how a story is breaking about Sagal that afternoon, insinuating romance between her and Destiny. Overwhelmed now, when Sagal steps up to ask her question at PMQs, she collapses.
Sagal is diagnosed with nervous exhaustion and, while recuperating in bed, is visited by her family as Tiff nurses her back to health. In her dreams, Sagal sees Zahra before fantasizing about Carmen in an unnerving way. Once recovered, Sagal pulls the sex work bill before receiving an anonymous email revealing corruption and kickbacks in the construction contracts across the parliamentary estate. Sagal meets Carmen in a café to break the news about the bill. Infuriated, Carmen accuses Sagal of giving in to the patriarchy.
Back in Parliament, Sagal happens upon an MP called Ian bullying his aide who she rescues. In the Central Lobby, Sagal tells Pete she knows it was him who sent the sensitive contract information. Pete takes her into the underrooms to discuss the matter further. Afterwards, Terrence intercepts Sagal, telling her to back off. When she refuses, Terrence offers her the spreadsheet summarising MPs’ suspected criminality in return for burying his involvement in the brewing contract scandal. Sagal accepts.
On Sagal’s journey home she is almost hit by a car and, fearful of the alienated people she encounters and violent events she sees in a reverie, becomes increasingly paranoid. Sagal receives the spreadsheet of alleged crimes, including those of Edward and Ian. In the houseshare, mounting stress causes Sagal to see things and she breaks down. Sagal is comforted by Tiff whose ministrations turn sexual, with Sagal experiencing her first orgasm involving another person.
The next day Sagal resolves to bring the whole corrupt political edifice down. We see her flash back to when she was twelve as Zahra readied herself to embark on the African trip. Here the siblings discuss Zahra’s premonitions and the elder sister reassures Sagal. In parliament, Sagal confronts Ian then accuses Edward of criminal behaviour before Terrence remonstrates with her. In a reverie, she sees some of the horrors enacted by governments in the House throughout history.
Feeling chased and persecuted by the MPs massing against her, Sagal flees into the underrooms, pursued by Terrence. They arrive in a dangerously off limits area where Terrence accidentally damages wiring which sparks dangerously. He continues to pursue Sagal who finds herself in a flooded area where she slips and becomes submerged. Terrence dives in after her and, as they struggle to breathe, fire shoots through the underrooms.
Terrence manages to move a sluice gate and the pair are deposited into the River Thames. Sagal makes it to the bank but Terrence struggles against the current until Sagal hoists him out of the water. Nearby, Parliament is engulfed by flames.
Terrence recovers in hospital while Sagal resigns as an MP, finding more meaning in helping local people directly. We see she is now bold enough to kindle her budding romance with Destiny. In her leaving speech to a temporary Parliament, Sagal castigates MPs for their decision to tax the poor to pay for a new Parlamentary building and aligns herself with the oppressed around the world. In her therapist’s office, Sagal ends the weekly sessions as she rises out of her grief, leaving to start a new life with Destiny.
In her Midlands home town, Sagal campaigns with helpers Destiny and Warren, returning to the family home to meet her brother Youssef and parents, Maryam and Freddie. At the local mosque, the Imam endorses her candidacy. Sagal sees her therapist to discuss the continuing grief from the death of her sister, Zahra. On election night, Sagal discovers she has won and is approached by Terrence, a renowned political fixer who has been sent to help her integrate into the Westminster scene. We see how Sagal enters reveries; revealing all that has happened in a specific location throughout history in her visions. On this night, she also sees an apparition of her deceased sister.
Sagal travels to Parliament alongside the new intake of MPs where she is overwhelmed by the rush of London. Terrence explains that Georgie will be Sagal’s aide in Westminster and Sagal gets an insight into how the parliamentary estate is physically failing. She is taken to that house in Westminster she will share with other MPs’ aides. In her parliamentary office, Sagal meets lifelong MP Edward and facilities man Pete. The latter takes Sagal on a tour of the underrooms of parliament where she sees chambers, passageways and the sewage system, all at risk from flooding, fire or vermin infestation.
Sagal helps local people at her constituency surgery. She takes her team to dinner then flashes back to a family meal twelve years earlier when Zahra was struggling with her mental health. In Westminster’s Portcullis House, Terrence introduces Sagal to politicians with influence and explains how budget limitations mean the parliamentary estate isn’t being appropriately renovated. Sagal joins the other aides in the Strangers’ Bar where she hears about the sleazy or vicious behaviour of certain MPs and how there is rumoured to be a spreadsheet detailing suspected criminal behaviour among them. Sagal’s attention is caught by an attractive guest, flirting with the male politicians. In the bathroom, Carmen introduces herself as a performer and sex worker and she asks Sagal to work for change in her industry. Sagal’s dreams that night feature Carmen, along with memories of Zahra before taking a disturbing turn. She is awoken by unsettling carnal sounds in the next room which end when she investigates them. In the House of Commons, Sagal takes part in her first debate. This is brought to an abrupt conclusion when part of the ceiling gives way in a nearby corridor.
At Terrence’s home for dinner, Sagal meets Terrence’s wife Rebecca who, on learning of Sagal’s houseshare issues, implores Terrence to find Sagal new digs. Sagal finds out more about Terrence’s cross-party role before returning home to discover the media camped outside her house. The reporters begin to ask intrusive questions about the circumstances of Zahra’s death. Sagal finds stories about her family online while driven to her new London residence where the privileged and attractive Tiff welcomes her. In parliament, Sagal talks with a sympathetic female MP before the division bell calls her to the voting lobby. She backs a bill against rogue landlords but this is subsequently voted down. At Youssef’s house, Sagal’s brother rebukes her for bringing the press down on their family. He reveals there were medical failings around Zahra’s death, but Sagal was too young to understand at the time. Sagal mentions their Great Aunt Trudi who died of a kind of sleeping sickness, but Youssef plays down her concerns. Sagal meets Destiny in a nearby cafe for support while someone takes photos of their intimate embrace from outside, unseen.
Sagal’s journey back to London is delayed before she is accosted by a street performer. Carmen also happens to be travelling south and she intervenes to help. On the train to London, Carmen states her case for Sagal to raise a Private Members’ Bill reforming the laws around sex work. We hear Sagal’s recent exchange with her therapist who urged her to get more rest and relaxation. Youssef sends his sister a news story on the rare condition ‘Fatal Familial Insomnia’ which he believes killed their Great Aunt. Sagal sees her own recent experiences in the documented symptoms and grows terrified.
In Westminster, Sagal asks Georgie to arrange a genetic screening and tells her about the potential member’s bill. Carmen gives Sagal a free ticket to a night at a former working men’s club where she is performing. Here Sagal sees the history of the establishment in her mind’s eye before enjoying the provocative performances. But she is subsequently unsettled by seeing Terrence there, in a clinch with a younger woman. Sagal takes fright and leaves when she thinks another audience member is photographing her.
While praying in the women’s gallery of their local Mosque with her mother, Sagal tells Maryam about the genetic screening. Sagal talks of Zahra’s presence and her fears of going the same way as her sister. Maryam says Sagal is misguided and fills in the gaps: how Zahra wouldn’t be talked out of visiting relatives in an isolated African village where she was bitten by the Tsetse fly then failed by poor healthcare systems. Maryam explains that Zahra’s second sight manifested in knowing the fate of everyone she met.
The next constituency surgery goes badly and has to be stopped when a disgruntled local brings a mob of far-right agitators there to protest. Back at her London digs, Sagal suffers hallucinations before seeing Tiff naked. In the House of Commons, an exhausted Sagal prepares to ask her first question of the Prime Minister, but she is distracted by the screening results which reveal nothing amiss. Youssef phones, angry because the media are now camped outside their parents’ house. Terrence reveals how a story is breaking about Sagal that afternoon, insinuating romance between her and Destiny. Overwhelmed now, when Sagal steps up to ask her question at PMQs, she collapses.
Sagal is diagnosed with nervous exhaustion and, while recuperating in bed, is visited by her family as Tiff nurses her back to health. In her dreams, Sagal sees Zahra before fantasizing about Carmen in an unnerving way. Once recovered, Sagal pulls the sex work bill before receiving an anonymous email revealing corruption and kickbacks in the construction contracts across the parliamentary estate. Sagal meets Carmen in a café to break the news about the bill. Infuriated, Carmen accuses Sagal of giving in to the patriarchy.
Back in Parliament, Sagal happens upon an MP called Ian bullying his aide who she rescues. In the Central Lobby, Sagal tells Pete she knows it was him who sent the sensitive contract information. Pete takes her into the underrooms to discuss the matter further. Afterwards, Terrence intercepts Sagal, telling her to back off. When she refuses, Terrence offers her the spreadsheet summarising MPs’ suspected criminality in return for burying his involvement in the brewing contract scandal. Sagal accepts.
On Sagal’s journey home she is almost hit by a car and, fearful of the alienated people she encounters and violent events she sees in a reverie, becomes increasingly paranoid. Sagal receives the spreadsheet of alleged crimes, including those of Edward and Ian. In the houseshare, mounting stress causes Sagal to see things and she breaks down. Sagal is comforted by Tiff whose ministrations turn sexual, with Sagal experiencing her first orgasm involving another person.
The next day Sagal resolves to bring the whole corrupt political edifice down. We see her flash back to when she was twelve as Zahra readied herself to embark on the African trip. Here the siblings discuss Zahra’s premonitions and the elder sister reassures Sagal. In parliament, Sagal confronts Ian then accuses Edward of criminal behaviour before Terrence remonstrates with her. In a reverie, she sees some of the horrors enacted by governments in the House throughout history.
Feeling chased and persecuted by the MPs massing against her, Sagal flees into the underrooms, pursued by Terrence. They arrive in a dangerously off limits area where Terrence accidentally damages wiring which sparks dangerously. He continues to pursue Sagal who finds herself in a flooded area where she slips and becomes submerged. Terrence dives in after her and, as they struggle to breathe, fire shoots through the underrooms.
Terrence manages to move a sluice gate and the pair are deposited into the River Thames. Sagal makes it to the bank but Terrence struggles against the current until Sagal hoists him out of the water. Nearby, Parliament is engulfed by flames.
Terrence recovers in hospital while Sagal resigns as an MP, finding more meaning in helping local people directly. We see she is now bold enough to kindle her budding romance with Destiny. In her leaving speech to a temporary Parliament, Sagal castigates MPs for their decision to tax the poor to pay for a new Parlamentary building and aligns herself with the oppressed around the world. In her therapist’s office, Sagal ends the weekly sessions as she rises out of her grief, leaving to start a new life with Destiny.
