the adventures of stoke mandeville, astronaut and gentleman is a comedy play by fraser charlton and nikolas lloyd. the action is set in a universe with an alternate history in which the british developed the craft of space travel during the reign of queen victoria. the modern day world is populated by stereotypically stoic englishmen, and vile scheming frenchmen who will stoop to any depth in order to thwart the ambitions and harmony of the british empire.