A NEW TV drama about the Lockerbie disaster and aftermath will air this weekend — with its producers describing it as a ‘homage’ to the people and the town.
The six-part Bombing of Pan Am 103 starts on BBC One on Sunday night and will later be released on Netflix globally.
Parts of it were filmed locally, including at Lockerbie Town Hall, Tundergarth and Dryfesdale Cemetery, in May 2024.
And it premiered at a special BAFTA screening in Glasgow earlier this week, attended by cast, crew, some of the original investigation team, a few Lockerbie residents, and the press, including this paper.
Executive producer Adam Morane-Griffiths, writer Gillian Roger-Park, director Michael Keillor, producer Julia Stannard and actor James Harkness took part in a Q&A afterwards.
Explaining why the drama was made now, three decades after the tragedy, Julia stressed it was a coincidence they were filming at the same time as the recent Sky show, starring Colin Firth.
She said: “What we realised when we started talking to people about this subject is that people under the age of 40 do not know about it. It’s not in the public eye any more.
“For the families and the community, it’s really important this story is kept
alive and we really felt we wanted to tell the story.
“There’s so many conspiracy theories and we really wanted to give the most truthful version as we understand it.”
Being mindful was at key when filming locally, she said: “We reached out to Dumfries and Galloway Council and went to speak to people from Lockerbie, representatives from business and the community to talk about whether we filmed in Lockerbie or not.
“We were very careful about what we did film there. I hope it’s a homage to the people of Lockerbie and the town.”
It was Adam who came up who with the idea for the drama and he spent eight years researching it. “It was such a vast investigation across multiple countries and agencies. It took a long time to get access to the information. I spoke to as many people as I could, including a lot of people who have not spoken ever,” he said. “Something I found quite eye-opening was every person who was impacted by this attack had a different experience and reacted differently.”
Meanwhile, ‘telling the truth ‘was what attracted Michael to the story and he said: “The more I did research and met people, I realised the impact this had for the people on the ground.
“I thought this was a story I had to tell as I am Scottish and the right age.”
Agreeing, Gillian said: “I do not think there’s a more important Scottish story to tell.
“We just hope that in telling this story we make a positive impact on those that are watching to understand a little better of what people went through.”
The premise of their series is to look at what happened, who was responsible and who was affected.
And all were full of praise for those in the community who shared their experiences, as well as the victims’ families who were involved in the project, with Gillian saying: “Some people feel a responsibility to have their stories told before it’s too late.
“The humanity of the story was really important to us.”
For actor James, who plays policeman Sandy Gass, he says he was particularly struck by the laundry scenes, adding: “The women of Lockerbie is one of my favourite parts of the story. It speaks of us when we’re at our best and come together and makes me so proud to be Scottish.”
