Storyline for Lockerbie A Search for Truth

There have been several documentaries about the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, most of them very good: sober, un-sensationalist but deeply moving.

It remains the deadliest terrorist attack in UK history.

A bomb exploded on Pan Am flight 103 as it flew over the small Scottish town.

All 243 passengers and 16 crew were killed.

Eleven people were killed on the ground by the debris that suddenly fell out of the night sky.

Lockerbie: A Search for Truth dramatizes the story of one bereaved father’s efforts to uncover what actually happened – how the bomb got on board the flight, who put it there, which organization was behind it, and why the UK government seemed to be obstructing his pursuit at every turn.

Jim Swire (here played by Colin Firth) was a GP living with his wife, Jane, and their children in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, when the flight exploded with his about-to-be-24-year-old daughter Flora onboard.

The drama is based on the book Swire co-wrote with Peter Biddulph, The Lockerbie Bombing: A Father’s Search for Justice, which is the distillation of the years of investigation and involvement he had with the case.

It ncludes the eventual trial of two Libyan suspects and Swire’s work thereafter to convince the courts and the public that the one convicted man, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi (played by Ardalan Esmaili), was innocent of the crime.

Episodes for Lockerbie A Search for Truth

S1.E1 ∙ Episode #1.1
When Jim Swire discovers his daughter has been killed in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, he begins to search for answers.

S1.E2 ∙ Episode #1.2
As Jim continues his campaign for truth and justice, two suspects are indicted for the bombing, and his focus shifts to bring the men to trial.

S1.E3 ∙ Episode #1.3
After coming to believe the authorities have got the wrong man behind the bombing, Jim grows closer to the convicted Abdelbaset al-Megrahi. He embeds himself within Megrahi’s appeal case, as well as the conspiracy theories around it.