Oscar-winning British actor Colin Firth is to star in a new drama series about the Lockerbie disaster.
Lockerbie will see Firth will portray Dr Jim Swire, who tragically lost his daughter, Flora, in the air disaster in 1988 and has doggedly pursued justice, along with his wife Jane, ever since.
The five-part Sky & Peacock Original series is based on the book The Lockerbie Bombing: A Father’s Search for Justice by Jim Swire and Peter Biddulph, along with multiple other sources.
All 259 passengers and crew were killed when the bomb exploded over Lockerbie 38 minutes after take-off from London Heathrow, with a further 11 residents losing their life as the plane came down over the Scottish town.
In 2001, Libyan national Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted of the crime and later released on compassionate grounds. Shortly after the Lockerbie bombing, one of the worst terrorist attacks in history, families of the victims joined together to launch a campaign for truth and justice.
READ MORE: Sky to turn Lockerbie disaster into TV drama
Among them was Dr Jim Swire whose campaign has taken him to Libya to meet face-to-face with Colonel Gaddafi, to 10 Downing Street to meet with successive Prime Ministers and to the corridors of power in the US where he worked with the American victims’ groups to mount pressure on Washington for tighter airport security, well before 9/11.
According to the Sky & Peacock Original announcement: "Lockerbie will provide an intimate account of a man, a husband, and a father who risks everything in memory of his daughter and the unflinching pursuit of truth and justice."
Lockerbie is a co-production between Carnival Films, which is part of Universal International Studios and Sky Studios.
Renowned Scottish playwright David Harrower (Blackbird, Knives in Hens) joins the series as lead writer, while Maryam Hamidi (Vigil) is guest writer on an episode.
BAFTA Award-winning Otto Bathurst (Peaky Blinders, The Winter King) is lead director, while Jim Loach (Save Me) will also direct an episode.
Production on the series will commence early 2024.
Lockerbie will be available on Sky and streaming service NOW in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria, and on Peacock in the US.
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