In 2012 Simon Bowles designed Roger Michell's "Hyde Park on Hudson" starring Bill Murray, set in 1930s Upstate New York about a British royal family visiting the US and their stay with Franklin Roosevelt, shot entirely in the UK. Bowles's work was mentioned in reviews; "handsomely decked out with a sharp eye for telling eye for production design" by Todd McCarthy in The Hollywood Reporter and "Hyde Park on Hudson boasts top-notch production design" by Geoffrey MacNabb in The Independent and "excellent production design from Simon Bowles completes this dreamy, impeccable film" by Clare Stuart, BFI. Bowles went on to win the British Film Designers Guild award for his design of this film.
Between 2013 and 2015 Simon Bowles was the elected chairman of The British Film Designers Guild which represents and promotes the creative talent of Production Designers and the art department in the British film industry.
Simon Bowles worked with Amma Asante again on "A United Kingdom" which tells the true story of the relationship between Seretse Khama, the chief to be of the Bamangwato tribe in the British colony of Bechuanaland in the late 1940s, and a white, middle-class Englishwoman, Ruth Williams. It stars David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike directed by Amma Asante produced by Rick McCallum. It was released in the UK in October 2016, US release in February 2017.
