BLACK ROD, who gave the prime minister a bloody nose in a battle over royal protocol, is facing a counterattack from a group of Labour MPs.

The parliamentarians want to mark the Queen's jubilee by screening at the Palace of Westminster the premiere of an epic film about the English civil war and execution of Charles I.

Provocatively titled To Kill a King, it stars Rupert Everett as Charles I and Tim Roth as Oliver Cromwell. It includes a scene of the king's beheading.

Black Rod, Lieutenant-General Sir Michael Willcocks, is expected to mount fierce resistance. He is, after all, the representative in parliament of Charles's distant descendant, the Queen. Willcocks, who was chief of staff, land operations during the Gulf war, was widely reckoned to have emerged the victor last month in the row with Downing Street over its alleged attempt to enhance the role of Tony Blair at the Queen Mother's lying-in-state.

According to some accounts, Willcocks declared: "I am not prepared to lie over this," in a "killer memo" to the Press Complaints Commission.

Some Labour MPs now relish the opportunity of avenging the prime minister's honour. One of them said this weekend: "We do not think Black Rod will approve of this and there could be a confrontation ... We want to make something of our republican past."

Tom Watson, a Labour MP and member of the all-party parliamentary film group, wants to screen the film in a room normally used for debates off Westminster Hall, the 11th-century vaulted building used for the lying-in-state.

It was in Westminster Hall that Charles I was sentenced to death. A brass plaque marks the spot where the king sat as the sentence was delivered.

Watson is to make a formal request this week for a screening of the film in the autumn, ahead of its cinematic release. The permission of both Black Rod and the sergeant-at-arms, who heads the Commons establishment, is expected to be required for the showing.

"This is clearly an important film politically and we should put ourselves full-square behind the British film industry," said Watson. "This is a film about parliament and it is important that members of parliament should have an opportunity to show their support."

"It is necessary in the jubilee year for us also not to forget our republican past," said Sion Simon, a Labour MP backing the planned screening. "We need to be reminded of the relationship between the government and royalty."

Paul Flynn, another of the MPs involved, brushed off any suggestion that it might be ill-mannered to screen the film during the golden jubilee year.

"Cromwell is a key character in English history. A new generation needs to be reminded of the cataclysm that took him to power. There are lessons to be learnt for today," he said.

After the execution of the king, Cromwell became Lord Protector in 1653 in a ceremony that appeared to ape the rituals of coronation. His son attempted to succeed him after he died in 1658 but failed, and the monarchy was restored in the person of Charles II in 1661. Cromwell's body was disinterred and he was himself ritually "executed" after his death.

Ronnie Campbell, the veteran left-wing MP, said: "It is history whether the royals like it or not. We may not have had parliament as we do now without what happened. Nothing but good came out of it with the beheading of Charles I."

Black Rod's office has not yet commented. It is not expected to react until a formal request for the screening is made. Willocks may find himself in a quandary s he ponders the constitutional niceties of the proposal.

Although his office was created in 1361, it was redefined in 1641, on the eve of the civil war, to reflect the revolt against the crown.

Since then, it has been customary for Black Rod to bang his ebony stick on the doors of the Commons chamber to summon MPs to hear the Queen's speech at the start of each parliament. The doors are closed in his face and remain so until he knocks three times with his rod.

During the Queen's visit, a member of parliament is traditionally held "hostage" in the Lords, to guarantee her safe passage. The MP is only released after the Queen's departure.

With a budget of more than Pounds 10m, the film will carry the hopes of the British film industry. It is partly financed by Natural Nylon, a company set up by the actors Jude Law and Ewan McGregor. The cast includes Dougray Scott as Cromwell's fellow rebel, General Fairfax.

Copyright 2002 Times Newspapers Limited