Drama series about Lockerbie bombing in development for Netflix and BBC

A second major transatlantic drama series about the Lockerbie bombing is in the works - this time on the BBC and Netflix. The British broadcaster and the American streamer are teaming up to produce Lockerbie, a factual drama that will explore the joint investigation into the 1988 disaster by Scottish and US authorities.



Pan Am Flight 103 was en route from Heathrow to JFK when a bomb exploded in the hold above the small Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 270 people. It was the worst terror attack ever on British soil.

Line of Duty producer World Productions is making the six-part series, which was initially developed by MGM Television and Night Train Media along with filmmaker Adam Morane-Griffiths.

The BBC and Netflix order comes more than a year after Sky and Peacock jointly greenlit a separate series, also titled Lockerbie. That project was supposed to premiere this year, but has been delayed in its further development.

Jim Sheridan, the Oscar-nominated director of My Left Foot, and daughter Kirsten Sheridan are writing the Sky/Peacock series, centering on a family's quest for justice. Carnival Films produces.

Jonathan Lee, the writer behind the novel High Dive, is co-writing the BBC/Netflix drama with Gillian Roger Park (The Young Offenders), who will write two episodes. They will rely on extensive interviews by Morane-Griffiths, who spoke to the Scottish police and US investigative services. The series will also explore the impact of the bombing on the residents of Lockerbie.

Michael Keillor (Roadkill (2020)) will direct. The executive producers are Simon Heath and Roderick Seligman for World, Steve Stark and Stacey Levin for Toluca Pictures, Adam Morane-Griffiths, Sara Curran, Herbert L. Kloiber, Gaynor Holmes and Keillor for the BBC. The co-executive producer is Joe Hill.

Netflix drama commissioner Mona Qureshi said: “The moment we read Jonathan’s pilot script, informed by Adam’s meticulous research, we understood that this team had found a way into these events that is epic and intimate, local and global, personal and political. The devastation wrought on the night of 21st December 1988 continues to reverberate through the decades.”

BBC commissioner Holmes added: “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.”