A brand-new co-production between Netflix and the BBC will be based on one of the worst aviation tragedies in history: Pan Am Flight 103, also known as the Lockerbie bombing. A co-production between Netflix and the British Broadcasting Corporation, Lockerbie is an upcoming historical thriller series.
The show’s showrunner, Jonathan Lee (Who Killed Jando), co-wrote the drama with Gillian Roger Park (Flotsam). Michael Keillor, who previously produced and directed the thriller Roadkill and helmed episodes of Line of Duty, is directing the series.
Not to be mistaken, the drama is the same-titled Sky and Peacock series created by Carnival Film & Television, the same company behind Netflix’s and the BBC’s The Last Kingdom.
The show’s production studios are MGM Television (USA), Night Train Media (Denmark), Toluca Pictures (USA), and World Productions (UK). Executive producers Sara Curran, Simon Hearth, Joe Hill, Gaynor Holmes, Michael Keillor, Herbert Kloiber, Jonathan Lee, Stacey Levin, Adam Morane-Griffiths, Roderick Seligman, and Steve Stark represent the four production studios.
Plot Of The Show
A play based on the actual events leading up to the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and the joint US-Scots inquiry that aimed to apprehend those responsible. The investigation into the disaster on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as the terrible impact it had on the little community and the people who lost loved ones, will be the main focus of Lockerbie.
The drama continues up to the most recent indictment at the end of 2022, starting with the first thorough search for evidence on the ground in Scotland and continuing through the US and Malta to the trial at Camp Zeist in 2000.
Pan Am Flight 103 was traveling over the Atlantic Ocean on December 21, 1988, from Frankfurt to Detroit. Following a brief layover in London, the aircraft was destroyed by an onboard bomb shortly after 19:00 while it was over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. Sixteen crew members and all 243 passengers perished.
After the wreckage and major parts of the aircraft crashed into multiple Lockerbie homes, killing eleven individuals, there were further victims.
The FBI and the Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary carried out a three-year investigation before issuing an arrest warrant for two Libyan individuals. A few years later, Libya’s leader, Muammar Gaddafi, turned over the two individuals who were put on trial in the Netherlands.
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence official, was found guilty of 270 counts of murder in 2001 due to his involvement in the bombings and was sentenced to life in prison.
Years later, in 2020, Libyan national Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi was charged by US officials for his involvement in the bombing while staying in Algeria. He was apprehended in December 2022. Renowned novelist and screenwriter Jonathan Lee is the main author, while Scottish screenwriter Gillian Roger Park wrote two of the episodes.
Producing the 6 x 60 series are World Productions (The Devil’s Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes) and MGM Television (Anne, the drama on Hillsborough mother and justice campaigner Anne Williams) in collaboration. United is the narrative of the Munich flight catastrophe.
Lockerbie will premiere in the UK and internationally on Netflix after airing on BBC One and iPlayer. Michael Keillor (Chimerica, Roadkill, Best Interests) will direct, and Julia Stannard (United, War and Peace, Anne) will produce. Initially, MGM Television and Night Train Media developed the proposal.
The investigation into the disaster on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as the terrible impact it had on the little community and the people who lost loved ones, will be the main focus of Lockerbie. The story leads us right up to the most recent indictment at the end of 2022, starting with the first thorough search for evidence on the ground in Scotland and continuing through the US and Malta to the trial at Camp Zeist in 2000.
Filmmaker Adam Morane-Griffiths launched the project. As part of his investigation, he conducted in-depth interviews with representatives from US investigative agencies and Scottish police officers, many of whom had never before disclosed their experiences.
How To Watch?
Lockerbie will air only on Netflix. It is likely that Lockerbie, being a BBC co-production, won’t be accessible for streaming on Netflix UK when it airs on the BBC. It will probably arrive later, though.
Episode Guide
- Lockerbie Episode 1: Saturday, November 25, 2023
- Lockerbie Episode 2: Saturday, December 2, 2023
- Lockerbie Episode 3: Saturday, December 9, 2023
- Lockerbie Episode 4: Saturday, December 16, 2023
- Lockerbie Episode 5: Saturday, December 23, 2023
- Lockerbie Episode 6: Saturday, December 30, 2023
Release Time
- Pacific Time (PT): Saturday at 7:00 PM
- Mountain Time (MT): Saturday at 8:00 PM
- Central Time (CT): Saturday at 9:00 PM
- British Standard Time (GMT): Sunday at 2:00 AM
- Central European Time (CET): Sunday at 3:00 AM
