17-05-2025
BBC's Lockerbie drama Bombing of Pan Am 103 is ‘not a story about one hero'
The BBC's new dramatisation of the Lockerbie disaster, The Bombing of Pan Am 103, is 'not a story about one hero', the cast have said, as it details the efforts of the police, the residents of the Scottish town, and people around the world in trying to catch who was behind the attack.
On 21 December, 1988, Pan Am flight 103 exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in a terrorist attack that killed all 243 passengers and 16 crew onboard, as well as 11 residents in the town. It remains the deadliest terrorist attack in UK history and investigations are still ongoing. The BBC series explores the attack and the events that took place in the aftermath.
But while Sky's equivalent drama Lockerbie: A Search for Truth is focused on activist Jim Swire's attempt to find out what happened after his daughter was killed on the flight, BBC's drama takes a more rounded approach. It highlights the work of the many detectives involved from both sides of the Atlantic, and the way the community came together in the wake of the tragedy.
Reflecting on the BBC drama's appeal, actor Eddie Marsan said: "I thought what was so beautiful about it was a story of a collective response to a trauma. The way the women of Lockerbie wash their clothes, the detectives and the way the team solved it — It's not a story about one hero.
"It's about a community, having a collective, people having a heroic response, which I loved."
Marsan portrays FBI agent Tom Thurman, an examiner in the Explosives Unit who helped piece together key information in the investigation. The actor added: "When I met Tom, he's such a fascinating man. He's got a twinkle in his eye, he loves to solve puzzles, and he was just a brilliant character to play.
"I thought I couldn't out Scottish Peter Mullan, so I will become the guy from Kentucky with the twinkle in his eye instead."
The six-part series has been created by Adam Morane-Griffiths, who conducted extensive research about the Lockerbie bombing through his work in documentaries. It was as a result of this that he came to realise it would be beneficial to a drama, and that's how BBC's show came to be.
Simon Heath, who executive produced the series, said: "He had thousands of hours of interviews with all of the lead detectives in the case, he had access to Richard Marquise, played by Patrick J Adams, in the series.
"I think when we first pitched the project and tried to get off the ground what we came up against was that a lot of places would like it to be the story of this one super cop who somehow solved everything and pieced together the truth alone," he said. "And it became obvious very quickly that that's not really what the story was.
"I remember a an early image Adam showed me which really stayed with me, a really powerful image was in Longtown in this warehouse where they'd laid out all the plane parts... and there was something about all those puzzle pieces hung up there that spoke to the story.
"I think a mosaic approach seemed appropriate in a way, and we wanted to look at some of the bigger investigative pieces but also some of the more personal fragments, the family stories, the stories of the Ladies of Lockerbie in the community. It seemed to us, I think, that all of those stories spoke to the work of piercing together what [happened]."
What was most important for the team behind the drama was ensuring those impacted by the event were at the forefront of the story and could share their experiences, director Michael Keillor said.
"I think the first thing with a real story like this is people involved, the families of the victims who we met prior to pre production, that was front of mind," he explained. "But everything we did right through the entire shoot, even when we were shooting as well, we were very mindful of where we were shooting.
"The crash site, we had to put that somewhere where people couldn't see, it could be hidden away. The nose cone as well is such a strong image, especially in Scotland, that if anyone saw that it wouldn't really be very cool, so that was a big part of the sensitivity.
"In Lockerbie itself, Julia Standard, our producer, had a town hall there and met people at Lockerbie to gauge the temperature there for people's feelings, and we only really filmed there for a couple of days for really important stuff.
"It's incredibly front of mind. I've never done a drama based on a true story, especially one that's based on the Scottish story I lived through, as well as a massive story back home, so it was incredibly important for me to be very careful."
Scottish actor Lauren Lyle, who plays DS Ed McCusker's wife June in the show, spoke of how there was a sense of responsibility over sharing the story in the right way: "I think being Scottish, it's a very personal story that I've grown up. I didn't live through it, but my parents did and my family did, and it's always been something that I've known a lot about and it's something people really talk about.
"I know Simon [Heath, executive producer] because [his company] made my show Karen Pirie so I knew that the show was being made and we spoke and I expressed that it's such a, in a way, horribly iconic story and I said: 'If there is anything, I'd be really honoured.'
"I didn't know anything about June and then I had a phone call, a couple of quite long phone calls with Ed McCusker and I think it just put into perspective the emotional reality. I think the women of the story put in the emotional reality of what happened.
"He was doing it for her because they had this amazing romantic story of their life and their love together, and about five years ago she died of cancer and the last thing that she said to him was 'you have to tell your Lockerbie story'.
"And I'm on the phone going, 'Oh my God, we I have to do it now.' So it was sort of an honour to be a part of something that I've always known about, and to do it for her as well because she'll never see it come to life, but for him to know that we have [is important]."
The Bombing of Pan Am 103 premieres on BBC One from 9pm, Sunday 18 May and will be available on BBC iPlayer. Episodes will be released Sunday and Monday nights.
