Lockerbie: A Search for Truth – Six things to know about the series
It’s nearly 36 years to the day that Britain saw its deadliest terrorist atrocity, the bombing of Pan Am flight 103, when 270 people lost their lives.
On its way to New York’s JFK, the Boeing 747 exploded 31,000ft over the small Scottish town of Lockerbie, four days before Christmas 1988.
One of the worst air disasters in history, now the story of fractured geopolitics and a father’s fight for justice is being made into a five-part drama – Lockerbie: A Search for Truth.
Here are five things you need to know about the show.
‘Catch up and keep up’
The bedrock of the drama is Jim Swire, a GP who lost his 23-year-old daughter Flora in the attack. A medical student, she bought her ticket at the last-minute to fly to the US to spend Christmas with her boyfriend.
Convinced there was a cover-up following the tragedy, he becomes the nominated spokesperson for the UK victims’ families. Now 88, he has dedicated his life to finding out who was responsible for his daughter’s death.
Played by Colin Firth, the Oscar-winning actor says he met Jim at his home ahead of filming, and loved his “alertness and intellectual agility” quickly realising he would have to “catch up and keep up”.
Firth went on, “Then realising what a huge thing to live up to was this was going to be. You always feel a bit out of your depth when you start a new job, but this really felt way out.”
Pic: Sky
‘I’d count the wrinkles’
Catherine McCormack plays Jim’s wife Jane, a grieving mother, trying to keep her family together after the loss of one of their three children.
McCormack says it was “rare” to find a part that developed over the course of 30 years, but admitted the 12-week shoot across both Scotland and Morocco was a challenge as it was filmed out of chronological order.
For example, the cast might film a scene from 1991 in the morning, then move onto one set in 2011 in the afternoon.
McCormack says she developed her own “map” of her storyline to keep track of the timeline, while Firth joked that he would “count the wrinkles they put on me” to work out where he was timewise.
The production built a massive replica set of Camp Zeist – the Scottish court in the Netherlands set up to try the suspects – to the exact details of the original which was visited by Jim, Jane and their son and grandson during the shoot.
Catherine McCormack in Lockerbie: A Search for Truth. Pic: Sky
The 15 seconds scene
One powerful scene in the first episode, features Jane, talking about the horrific nightmares she suffers following the death of her daughter.
McCormack explains that during her research she found that Jane would read up about the disintegration of aircrafts and the last moments of a person’s life if they were conscious as they fell to the ground.
Incorporated into a single scene that takes place in a cabinet official’s office, she feared she’d “completely messed it up”.
Even writer David Harrower says after he wrote the script he had second thoughts, believing some of the lines to be “hokey” and nearly took it out completely.
Luckily, the scene remained, and is “one of the most amazing scenes” in the show according to the show’s creators.
Pic: Sky
‘A fresh perspective’
Director Otto Bathurst, who has previously directed Peaky Blinders and Criminal Justice, says he was inspired by Jim Swire’s “relentless search for the truth”.
Refusing to be contained by one genre, the show is at various points a family drama, a conspiracy thriller, a courtroom drama, and a study in grief.
Although based on a real-life event, it remains a fictionalisation of the story, so has creative licence to consolidate and re-create some elements to make it work on screen.
Bathurst explains: “Somehow, as drama people, you can find a fresh perspective on something no amount of journalism or brilliant documentaries can… Fictionalising it, with the characters played by actors, tells a story people can respond to.”
The wreckage of the real Pan Am flight 103. Pic: Reuters
What is the truth?
The tragedy ripped apart the lives of the 270 individuals killed, and that of their friends and families.
But while a large part of the drama is told from one point of view – Jim’s – it strives to tell all sides of the story.
While Jim believed there was a miscarriage of justice, other families affected by the tragedy had a completely different opinion.
The story is told from his perspective, but the show never explicitly says whether his version of events is correct or not. It presents corroborating evidence with contradictory evidence, allowing the viewers to make up their own minds.
Pic: Sky
TV with the power to change the world
Earlier this year, ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office not only became a hit with viewers and critics alike, but also helped bring justice to the victims after raising public awareness of the scandal.
Executive producer Gareth Neame hopes Lockerbie could have a similar impact.
He explains: “We would like to feel that as a drama, we have shone a light on this murky, murky subject that has never been adequately done in factual television or any amount of journalism.
“Hopefully, we’re in a slot in the time of year where people have some space to watch and consider the story and the facts quite deeply. That would be our ambition”.
All five episodes of Lockerbie: A Search for Truth are available to watch on Sky Atlantic and NOW from 2 January 2025.
Grammy-award winning singer Roberta Flack has died at the age of 88, her publicist has announced.
The American singer was best known for her hit songs Killing Me Softly With His Song and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.
Flack pictured in 1972. Pic: Photoreporters/Shutterstock
One of the top recording artists of the 1970s, she died on Monday surrounded by her family, her publicist Elaine Schock said in a statement.
In 2022, Flack announced she was suffering from motor neurone disease (MND), and could no longer sing.
Rising to fame in her early 30s, Flack became an overnight success after Clint Eastwood chose her song, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, as the soundtrack for the explicit love scenes of his 1971 movie Play Misty For Me.
The track topped the US charts in 1972, and Flack was rewarded with a Grammy.
The following year she took the coveted Record of the Year prize at the Grammys for a second time with Killing Me Softly, becoming the first artist ever to do so.
Discovered in the late 1960s by jazz musician Les McCann, Flack was a classically trained pianist, receiving a full scholarship to study at Howard University at just 15.
McCann later wrote of Flack: “Her voice touched, tapped, trapped, and kicked every emotion I’ve ever known.”
Flack with her Grammy for Killing Me Softly in 1974. Pic: AP
A shining light in the social and civil rights movement of the time, Flack was friends with both Reverend Jesse Jackson and Angela Davis whom Flack visited in prison when Davis faced charges – for which she was acquitted – for murder and kidnapping.
Flack also sang at the funeral of Jackie Robinson, Major League Baseball’s first black player.
Living on the same floor of the famous Dakota apartment building as John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Flack also became friends with the Beatle, later releasing an album of Beatles covers.
Flack in 1976. Pic: Robert Legon/Shutterstock
Born Roberta Cleopatra Flack, to musician parents in Black Mountain, North Carolina, in 1937, she was raised in Arlington, Virginia.
She was married to jazz musician Stephen Novosel between 1966 and 1972.
Flack’s other hits from the 1970s included Feel Like Makin’ Love and two duets with her close friend and former Howard University classmate Donny Hathaway, Where Is the Love and The Closer I Get to You.
Sadly, their partnership ended in tragedy, after he fell to his death from his hotel room in Manhattan in 1979, after suffering a breakdown while they were recording an album of duets together.
Stevie Wonder and Flack perform a duet in 1985. Pic: AP
While Flack never matched her first run of success, she had a follow-up hit in the 1980s with the Peabo Bryson duet Tonight, I Celebrate My Love and in the 1990s with the Maxi Priest duet Set The Night To Music.
In the mid-90s, she received a wave of new attention after the Fugees covered Killing Me Softly. She would go on to perform with the hip-hop band on stage.
A five-time Grammy winner, Flack received a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2020.
Contemporary stars to praise her include Beyoncé, John Legend and Ariana Grande.
Flack in 2010. Pic: Reuters/John Sommers
Working as a high-school teacher in her 20s, while gigging in clubs during the evenings, Flack proved a canny educator, telling the Tampa Bay Times in 2012: “I was teaching at Banneker Junior High in Washington, DC It was part of the city where kids weren’t that privileged, but they were privileged enough to have music education.
“I really wanted them to read music. First, I’d get their attention. [I’d sing]: ‘Stop, in the name of love.’ Then I could teach them!”
Entertainment
Timothee Chalamet and Demi Moore among winners at SAG Awards – a major Oscars predictor
The winners of this year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG) have been revealed – a major predictor of the Oscars, with just a week to go.
Demi Moore continued her run of success to be named best actress for her performance in body horror The Substance, while Timothee Chalamet picked up the award for best actor for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown.
Demi Moore adds yet another tropy to her collection for her performance in The Substance. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
While not a complete shock, before this Adrien Brody had probably just nudged it as favourite for an Oscar win for his performance in post-war epic The Brutalist.
Now, the race is closer than it has been in years – and both Chalamet, 29, and Moore, 62, could be on course for their first Academy Awards.
Following a BAFTA win earlier this month, papal thriller Conclave was honoured with the top film prize, for best ensemble.
Starring Ralph Fiennes, Isabella Rossellini and Stanley Tucci, the film follows the drama of the selection process for a new pope.
Conclave stars (L-R) Sergio Castellitto, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini and Ralph Fiennes with the ensemble cast award. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
During the ceremony, Rossellini said the film’s cast wanted to send their best wishes to Pope Francis, who is being treated in hospital for pneumonia and bronchitis, and wish him “a quick recovery”.
Elsewhere, the supporting categories were true to 2025 awards season form – Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldana continued their runs of success with wins for performances in A Real Pain and Emilia Perez respectively.
‘I want to be one of the greats’
Chalamet attended with his mum, Nicole Flender. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
The awards are voted for by members of the SAG-AFTRA union and are held as a celebration of actors honoured by their peers.
For the best male actor announcement, Chalamet looked visibly surprised as his name was called.
After being accompanied by girlfriend Kylie Jenner to the BAFTAs last week, this time round he was celebrating with his mum, Nicole Flender.
“The truth is, this was five-and-a-half years of my life. I poured everything I had into playing this incomparable artist, Mr. Bob Dylan, a true American hero,” he said on stage. “It was the honour of a lifetime playing him.”
Making no secret of his ambitions, he added: “The truth is I’m really in pursuit of greatness. I know people don’t usually talk like that, but I want to be one of the greats.”
Moore said joining SAG-AFTRA as a teenager in 1978 gave her meaning as “a kid on my own who had no blueprint for life”.
Jane Fonda was honoured with a lifetime achievement award. Pic: AP/Chris Pizzello
Actress and activist Jane Fonda, 87, provided the ceremony’s most passionate political moment as she was honoured with a lifetime achievement prize.
“We are in our documentary moment,” she said. “This is it. And it’s not a rehearsal.”
The word “woke”, she added, “just means you give a damn” about others.
The TV winners
Shogun stars (L-R) Tommy Bastow, Shinnosuke Abe, Moeka Hoshi, Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawai, Tadanobu Asano and Hiroto Kanai. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
The SAG Awards also include TV categories, with Japanese historical drama Shogun picking up the gong for best ensemble and its stars, Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai, named best actor and actress.
Only Murders In The Building took home the prize for best comedy ensemble, with star Martin Short named best actor in a comedy series.
Jean Smart, who had previously called for cancelling the awards shows due to the wildfires that hit LA in January, was named best actress in a comedy, for her role in Hacks. She did not attend, but gave a recorded introduction.
In the limited series category, British star Jessica Gunning was named best actress for Baby Reindeer, while Irish star Colin Farrell was named best actor for The Penguin.
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