Netflix co-commissioning Lockerbie bombing TV drama
The six-part, factual drama will explore the real events surrounding the attack
Last updated 31st Jul 2023
A new drama series telling the story of the Lockerbie bombing is to be made almost 35 years after Pan Am flight 103 was blown out of the skies above Scotland.
The BBC and Netflix have commissioned World Productions to make Lockerbie, a six-part, factual drama based on the real events surrounding the bombing and the joint Scots-American investigation into the terrorist attack.
The plane was over the Dumfriesshire town of Lockerbie, on its way from London Heathrow to New York's JFK airport, when an explosive went off in the hold.
All 259 people on board, many of whom were Americans heading home for Christmas, as well as 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie, were killed.
Speaking about the new series, BBC commissioning editor Gaynor Holmes said: "The tragic events which took place in Scotland that night continue to have an impact on our country and, in particular, the Lockerbie community.
"It was an atrocity which shocked the world and changed lives forever.
"We have the right team in place to tell this extraordinary story with the greatest of care, making sure the series reflects the devastating events of that night, the complex and far-reaching investigation that followed and the effect it had on all those who lost loved ones.
Former Libyan intelligence officer, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is so far the only man convicted in relation to the bombing, after being found guilty of 270 counts of murder by a panel of three Scottish judges, sitting at a special court in the Hague in 2001.
He was sent to prison in Scotland, but was controversially granted compassionate release in 2009 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, returning home to Libya where he died in 2012.
Another man, Libyan Abu Agila Masud, who is alleged to have helped make the bomb, faces three charges, denying these when he appeared at a federal court in the US in February.
Now, lead writer, Jonathan Lee, is tasked with bringing events to the small screen.
He said: "The Pan Am 103 Disaster and the global manhunt it spawned was a defining event in world history - one that contains so many instances of resilience and courage that deserve to be honoured and understood.
"It's a privilege to write this story for the screen."
The series is produced by World Productions, which has previously produced United, about the Munich air disaster the killed eight Manchester United footballers in 1958; and Anne, a drama about Hillsborough mother and justice campaigner, Anne Williams.