The cast and crew of new BBC and Netflix factual drama, The Bombing of Pan AM 103 have been discussing the making of the series.
On 21 December 1988, flight Pan Am 103 was en route from Heathrow to JFK when a bomb exploded in its hold over Lockerbie, killing 270 people, including 43 British citizens and 190 Americans.
It was the worst ever terror attack on British soil and the first major act of terrorism against US citizens.
“I was eight years old when the bombing occurred. I was with my parents in England but we had family in Scotland, just outside Glasgow. I vividly remember catching snippets of the story on TV,” said lead writer, Jonathan Lee.
“It’s probably the first news story I really remember seeing play out on our boxy TV as a kid.
“I remember that in my childish ignorance the realisation was really shocking to me; that a 747 could fall out of the sky and that someone would deliberately make that happen. In adulthood I felt like I knew the story somewhat from having grown up at that time, but I realised more and more on this project how much there actually was to know. It’s taken a few years to draw back the curtain and see some of the details that history doesn’t record, those that posterity and its desire to simplify push into the footnotes.”
The attack was even closer for Director, Michael Keillor:
“I was incredibly familiar with the events. I was 15 when the attack happened over Lockerbie. I was supposed to be going on a skiing holiday with my school and we got diverted the other way down the country because there had been a crash,” he said.
“Then, on the way home, we drove right past Lockerbie and were able to see the crash out the windows of the coach. It was the biggest terrorist attack in Britain but also very big for Scotland because nothing like that had ever happened in the country before.
“I knew a lot about the attack and post-attack but not as much about the later trial. I’d tracked the story a little bit, and obviously knew the end result, but I didn’t know about the 10 years of investigation and debate to get there.
“I’d always had in mind why no-one had told the story of The Bombing of Pan Am 103.
“I’m drawn to stories of injustice and I thought it was a chance to make a big bold project in Scotland, including Scottish cast, telling a very Scottish story. And it had an international reach, because of the connection with America.”
Made by World Productions, it tells the untold story of the Scots-US investigation into the attack and the devastating effect it had on the small town and the families who lost loved ones.
“It was hard playing someone who was on the frontlines of a case such as this,” said Connor Swindells, who plays D.S. Ed McCusker.
“Emotionally it definitely takes a toll and I didn’t realise that before we started filming, perhaps naively. There certainly is a tax that comes with even just a ‘smidge’ of putting myself into this world, though of course it is just a very small fraction of what the real-life investigators we’re depicting experienced.
“This is a story that must be handled with care, and we felt the responsibility of depicting this subject matter with responsibility and respect.”
Starting from the initial search for evidence on the ground in Scotland, via the US and Malta to the trial at Camp Zeist in 2000, the 6-part series leads up to the upcoming new trial in the US.
READ MORE – Suits star cast in BBC and Netflix Lockerbie drama
Patrick J Adams, who takes on the role of Dick Marquise added that while he knew about Lockerbie, because he was living in the UK at the time, he was surprised about the investigation:
“Before knowing all the details of how this played out I’d have assumed that the FBI would be welcomed with open arms into any investigation, maybe that’s my Western, North American bias. Then to learn that of course that wasn’t the case, this was an attack that happened on Scottish soil, it was something that belonged to the Scots in a way and they had to be up front,” he explained.
“I’d never imagined how complicated an investigation like that would be. Even though everyone wants the same thing – to get to the answer of who did this, who is responsible, how did they do it and how do we hold them accountable – you have different people with different agendas, different ways of going about that. You have egos involved, we’re human beings and it’s an imperfect thing trying to solve an unimaginable crime. I’ve been amazed at all the details of these people who all want the same thing struggling to get on the same page, I’m sure that’s something that still happens to this day.
“I think I take for granted, as someone who doesn’t know a tonne about law enforcement or didn’t until doing this, that everybody would just roll up their sleeves and work together and it would be easy.
“I was also so surprised by the details of the investigation, the fact that this was an enormous 850 square mile crime scene and ultimately the evidence that led to al-Megrahi’s conviction is this tiny piece of plastic from a motherboard that would fit on the end of your finger. Just the scale of that with this tiny thing that comes out of this enormous, unimaginable, horrible event stretched over hundreds of square miles. I think there is something profoundly amazing about that and the fact human beings have the capacity to find that piece of evidence that leads to the arrest and conviction of al-Megrahi.”
Eddie Marsan, who plays Tom Thurman said:
“The bombing was a terrible moment in history. The perseverance, care and conscientious nature of the investigating team and the forensics specialists was incredible. The way the community came together, internationally, to help the families of the victims was remarkable. It’s a very sad story but it’s very inspirational.
“What surprised me most was the collaboration, how so many people – locally in Lockerbie and internationally – came together to solve this crime. They couldn’t move on unless it was solved and everybody came together to do that, that’s what I found most fascinating.”
The Bombing of Pan Am 103 is produced by World Productions, an ITV Studios company, in association with MGM Television and Night Train Media.
The executive producers are Simon Heath and Roderick Seligman for World Productions; Steve Stark and Stacey Levin for Toluca Pictures, Adam Morane-Griffiths, Sara Curran, Herbert L. Kloiber for Night Train Media, Jonathan Lee, Michael Keillor; and Gaynor Holmes for the BBC. The co-executive producer is Joe Hill. Mona Qureshi and Manda Levin lead for Netflix.
Producer, Julie Stannard explained how they’d built a relationship with the local community:
“Our brilliant location manager Barry Laird contacted the relevant people in Dumfries and Galloway to let them know about our drama and we had a number of calls to discuss the possibility of filming certain material in Lockerbie itself,” she said.
“We were always clear that we would not want to recreate any of the devastation from the crash there, but rather later events that commemorated those who lost their lives, including the Tundergarth and Dryfesdale memorials. We were invited to attend a meeting with residents and local businesses at Lockerbie Town Hall where we discussed our intentions for the drama, and they could ask questions. We followed this up the next day with a drop in session at the town hall. A short while later, it was confirmed that we could film for two days in Lockerbie Town Hall, Tundergarth and Dryfesdale Cemetery, and this became a key part of the drama.
“The biggest challenge was probably the scale of the production. Parts of the plane and its contents were spread across an 850 square mile area, making it the biggest crash site in British policing. Without sensationalising the crash itself, we needed to show the scale of the disaster and the size of the task facing the investigators. All of this needed to be handled sensitively, with respect for those who lost their lives, and those who witnessed first-hand the horrors of this terrible act of terrorism.”
The series will premiere on BBC iPlayer and BBC One 9pm on Sunday 18 May, it will be available on Netflix globally at a later date.
