Lockerbie: A Search for Truth – Six things to know about the series

Published

4 months ago

December 11, 2024

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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.”

‘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.

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.

‘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.”

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.

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.

Entertainment

Tom Cruise leads moment of silence in tribute to ‘dear friend’ Val Kilmer

Published

8 hours ago

April 3, 2025

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Tom Cruise leads moment of silence in tribute to 'dear friend' Val Kilmer

Tom Cruise has paid tribute to Val Kilmer, wishing his Top Gun co-star “well on the next journey”.

Cruise, speaking at the CinemaCon film event in Las Vegas on Thursday, asked for a moment’s silence to reflect on the “wonderful” times shared with the star, whom he called a “dear friend”.

Kilmer, who died of pneumonia on Tuesday aged 65, rocketed to fame starring alongside Cruise in the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun, playing Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky, a rival fighter pilot to Cruise’s character Maverick.

His last part was a cameo role in the 2022 blockbuster sequel Top Gun: Maverick.

Cruise, on stage at Caesars Palace on Thursday, said: “I’d like to honour a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer. I can’t tell you how much I admire his work, how grateful and honoured I was when he joined Top Gun and came back later for Top Gun: Maverick.

“I think it would be really nice if we could have a moment together because he loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us. Just kind of think about all the wonderful times that we had with him.

“I wish you well on the next journey.”

The moment of silence followed a string of tributes from Hollywood figures including Cher, Francis Ford Coppola, Antonio Banderas and Michelle Monaghan.

Kilmer’s daughter Mercedes told the New York Times on Wednesday that the actor had died from pneumonia.

Diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, Kilmer discussed his illness and recovery in his 2020 memoir Your Huckleberry and Amazon Prime documentary Val.

He underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatments for the disease and also had a tracheostomy which damaged his vocal cords and permanently gave him a raspy speaking voice.

Kilmer played Batman in the 1995 film Batman Forever and received critical acclaim for his portrayal of rock singer Jim Morrison in the 1991 movie The Doors.

He also starred in True Romance and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, as well as playing criminal Chris Shiherlis in Michael Mann’s 1995 movie Heat and Doc Holliday in the 1993 film Tombstone.

In 1988 he married British actress Joanne Whalley, whom he met while working on fantasy adventure Willow.

The couple had two children before divorcing in 1996.

Entertainment

Bruce Springsteen: The Boss to release seven ‘lost’ albums

Published

14 hours ago

April 3, 2025

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Bruce Springsteen: The Boss to release seven 'lost' albums

Bruce Springsteen is to release seven albums of mostly unheard material this summer.

The US singer said the songs, written and re-recorded between 1983 and 2018, were being made public after he began completing “everything I had in my vault” during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a short video posted on Instagram, Springsteen said the albums were “records that were full records, some of them even to the point of being mixed and not released”.

The 83-song collection is being released in a box set called Tracks II: The Lost Albums and goes on sale on 27 June.

Some 74 of the tracks have never been heard before.

Springsteen first teased the release on Wednesday morning with a short social media video accompanied by text which said: “What was lost has been found”.

Tracks II is the follow-up to the star’s first Tracks volume, a four-CD collection of 66 unreleased songs, released in 1998.

The New Jersey-born rocker, nicknamed The Boss, last released a studio album in 2022.

Only the Strong Survive was a collection of covers, including songs by Motown and soul artists, such as the Four Tops, The Temptations, The Supremes, Frankie Wilson and Jimmy Ruffin.

The late soul legend Sam Moore, who died in January and was a frequent Springsteen collaborator, sang on two of the tracks.

Springsteen is coming to the UK in May to launch a two-month tour of Europe with his E Street Band.

The shows will include performances at the Co-op Live in Manchester and Liverpool’s Anfield stadium.

The singer-songwriter has sold more than 140 million records since his debut on the music scene in 1973, according to his website.

Entertainment

Stalker who believed Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas was his aunt avoids jail

Published

3 days ago

April 1, 2025

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Stalker who believed Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas was his aunt avoids jail

A man who stalked Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas for six years has avoided jail.

Kyle Shaw, 37, got a 20-month suspended sentence and a lifetime restraining order on contacting Ballas, her mother, niece, and former partner.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that he thought Ballas was his aunt and “began a persistent campaign of contact”.

“He believed, and it’s evident from what he was told by his mother, that her late brother was his father,” said prosecutor Nicola Daley.

The court heard there was no evidence he was wrong, and “limited evidence” he was correct.

Ms Daley said Shaw’s messages had accused Ballas of being to blame for the death of her brother, who took his own life in 2003 aged 44.

He also set up social media accounts in his name.

Shaw had pleaded guilty to stalking the former dancer between August 2017 and November 2023 at a hearing in February.

Incidents included following Ballas’s 86-year-old mother, Audrey Rich, while she was shopping and telling her she was his grandmother.

The court heard in messages to Mrs Rich, Shaw had asked: “Where’s my dad?”

Ballas was so worried for her mother’s safety that she moved her from Merseyside to London.

In October 2020, Ballas called police after Shaw messaged her and said: “Do you want me to kill myself, Shirley?”

Posts on X included one alongside an image of her home address that warned: “You ruined my life, I’ll ruin yours and everyone’s around you.”

Another referenced a book signing and said: “I can’t wait to meet you for the first time Aunty Shirley. Hopefully I can get an autograph.”

The court was told Ballas’s niece Mary Assall, former partner Daniel Taylor and colleagues from Strictly Come Dancing and ITV’s Loose Women were also sent messages.

‘I know where you live’

On one occasion in late 2023, Shaw called Mr Taylor and told him he knew where the couple lived and described Ballas’s movements.

The court heard the 64-year-old TV star become wary of socialising and stopped using public transport.

Prosecutor Ms Daley said: “She described having sleepless nights worrying about herself and her family’s safety and being particularly distressed when suggestions were made to her that she and her mother were responsible for her brother taking his own life.”

Shaw cried and wiped away tears as he was sentenced on Tuesday.

The judge said the stalking stemmed from his mother telling him Ballas’s brother, David Rich, was his biological father.

“I’m satisfied that your motive for this offending was a desire to seek contact with people you genuinely believed were your family,” he said.

“Whether in fact there’s any truth in that belief is difficult, if not impossible, to determine.”

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Defence lawyer John Weate said Shaw had been told the story by his mother “in his mid to late teens” and had suffered “complex mental health issues” since he was a child.

He added: “He now accepts that Miss Ballas and her family don’t wish to have any contact with him and, importantly, he volunteered the information that he has no intention of contacting them again.”

Shaw, of Whetstone Lane in Birkenhead, also admitted possessing cannabis and was ordered to undertake a rehab programme.