Channel 4 rebuilt Downing Street down to the door handles for Number 10

Channel 4 rebuilt 10 Downing Street from memory, paint charts and one very specific fireplace for its new comedy drama Number 10.

Writer Steven Moffat and Sue Vertue pursued what Moffat called an obsessive level of detail for the series, which stars Rafe Spall as a fictional UK prime minister, Deadline reported. Jenna Coleman and Katherine Kelly also star. Hartswood Films is producing the show.

The series is about life inside 10 Downing Street, the prime minister’s official residence and office in Central London. Channel 4 describes it as a comedy drama, meaning it mixes jokes with a continuing story, and it unveiled a first image of Spall in character in May, Deadline reported. Channel 4 lists Spall’s earlier credits as Trying and The English, while his credits also include Black Mirror, according to the Royal Television Society.

Interiors were recreated at Bray Studios, west of London. The team visited the real building for research but were not allowed to take photographs inside. They then rebuilt it from notes and measurements.

That rebuild covered the correct door handles, flower pots, paintings on the correct walls and precise colours. The production even commissioned the maker of the original Number 10 fireplace to build a copy for the set.

Exteriors were filmed outside the real 10 Downing Street across one weekend when the prime minister, family and staff were away. The short shoot gave the production real street views to match the studio interiors.

The prime minister on screen belongs to no named party. The show deliberately leaves his party and allegiance blank.

For viewers, this means a familiar address with invented residents. The corridors look right. The politics stay fictional.

Sales are already under way. ITV Studios, the distribution arm that sells programmes to broadcasters around the world, was offering Number 10 at MIPCOM, the annual international television market in Cannes, in 2026. The series had already sold to European buyers as of October 2026.