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.
Entertainment
‘I’m shocked at how fragile I am still’: Cumberbatch and Colman on protecting their sanity from perils of social media
Actor Benedict Cumberbatch says he’s shocked at how “fragile” he still is – despite years in the spotlight and success in the industry.
It might seem like the Doctor Strange star and The Crown actress Olivia Colman have it all when it comes to money and success – but they are also human like the rest of us.
The pair lead the cast of new satirical black comedy The Roses, which sees picture-perfect couple Ivy and Theo Rose – a rising star chef and ambitious architect – raise their two children in California, while chasing their own dreams.
‘I am shocked at how fragile I am’
But behind its dark humour and comic language, the film also looks at the realities of power imbalance, insecurity and wounded pride – in even the strongest of relationships.
And 49-year-old Cumberbatch – whose character faces a major setback in his career – tells Sky News that in real life the glare of social media only intensifies those type of situations.
“I am shocked at how fragile I am still.
“I don’t go anywhere near it [social media] because of that.
“It’s like walking into a place where people want to marry you or kill you. Those extremes.
“I think we will get to a stage, a corporate culture that’s now manifested around it where people are obliged to do that in order to sell their lives, and therefore their brand and what they do for a living.”
Co-star Colman – who’s long-shunned the online world – agrees.
Cumberbatch and Colman in The Roses. Pic: Jaap Buitendijk/ Searchlight Pictures
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“I’m afraid I am very thin-skinned.
“I don’t look at any of it. My husband will look at a review and if it’s nice he’ll show me – but if it’s anything mean he knows to just go ‘don’t look – don’t look.’
“You just have to learn to be thicker-skinned.
“But actually, I think we need people who are sensitive and kind.”
‘Don’t do it… delete it all’
Colman – now 51, and whose leading role in The Favourite bagged her an Academy Award in 2019 – says no amount of experience and success can shield her from criticism.
“My advice to a young’un – sort of dipping their toe into the world of social media for the first time is absolutely don’t do it.
“Delete it all. If you want a happy life, don’t have any of it. I’ve never had it.”
The movie – directed by Meet The Parents’ Jay Roach with The Favourite screenwriter Tony McNamara – also calls into question the notion of success – asking, is it really possible to have it all?
Or is sacrifice inevitable when it comes to spinning the plates of a high-flying career, marriage and parenthood?
Cumberbatch admits “you can’t do it all without there being a cost”.
“You just have to weigh up what those balances are,” he adds.
Colman says “there are I suppose little sacrifices along the way” – from both sides of a relationship.
The comedy drama offers a fresh take on Warren Adler’s novel The War Of The Roses – and the 1989 hit film adaptation- starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.
Colman and Cumberbatch – both producers on the film – insist they weren’t daunted by that though.
“We wanted to find a project to do together, and we have utter respect for the iconic status of the film and book,” explains Cumberbatch.
“Hopefully this will have its own place in the culture – it’s very different, it’s not a remake – it’s a reimagined jumping-on point.”
“But beyond that, it’s very different,” adds Colman.
Former Doctor Who Ncuti Gatwa and Barbie’s Kate McKinnon also form the cast.
The Roses is out in UK cinemas now.
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