"Big Ben Strikes Again" is the third episode of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson.
Set in 2068, the series depicts a "war of nerves" between Earth and the Mysterons: a hostile race of Martians with the ability to create functioning copies of destroyed people or objects and use these reconstructions to carry out specific acts of aggression against humanity.
Earth is defended by a military organisation called Spectrum, whose top agent, Captain Scarlet, was murdered by the Mysterons and replaced with a reconstruction that later broke free of their control.
Spectrum's key to locating the device before it detonates lies in solving the mystery of the truck driver's claim that he heard Big Ben strike 13 at midnight.
[3] Along with the previous episode, "Big Ben Strikes Again" was postponed during the BBC's 2001 Captain Scarlet re-run after comparisons were drawn between the storyline and the attacks of September 11, 2001.
As the defusing procedure would take too long, White orders the captains to drive the transporter to its intended destination – a nearby construction site – and leave the device to detonate in a specially-prepared underground excavation.
[10][11] Mike Fillis of Cult Times magazine considers "Big Ben Strikes Again" to be a highlight of the series, describing the episode's scale model work as "superb".
[12] Writing for What DVD magazine, Gary Russell cites the episode's opening act, which he says revolves around Macey's "paranoia", as an example of Captain Scarlet's relative maturity for a children's series as well as its "sense of darkness ... and real drama".
Among his few criticisms are the expository closing scene, which he views as a "limp, dry aftermath to an otherwise brilliant episode – one that mixes dark atmospherics and full-blown action into an engrossing whole.
"[14] Media historian Nicholas J. Cull argues that "Big Ben Strikes Again", along with the later episodes "Treble Cross" and "Expo 2068", demonstrates Barwick's partiality to storylines about the dangers of nuclear technology.