What if the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 had succeeded? Lucy Worsley What if the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 had succeeded? Lucy Worsley investigates the motives behind the audacious attempt by a small investigates the motives behind the audacious attempt by a small network of men to blow up London's Houses of Parliament to destroy network of men to blow up London's Houses of Parliament to destroy the King and his government. the King and his government.