‘Suits’ Star Patrick J. Adams, Connor Swindells, Merritt Wever Cast in Netflix, BBC Series ‘Lockerbie’

Georg Szalai
·3-min read

Suits star Patrick J. Adams, Connor Swindells (Sex Education, SAS Rogue Heroes), Merritt Wever (Unbelievable, Godless) and Eddie Marsan (Ridley Road, The Pact) are part of the the cast of the upcoming six-episode series Lockerbie, about the December 1988 terrorist attack on Pan Am Flight 103, for the BBC and Netflix.

Further castmembers unveiled Tuesday include Peter Mullan (Ozark, Payback), Tony Curran (Mary & George, Mayflies), Lauren Lyle (Karen Pirie, Vigil), Andrew Rothney (The Undeclared War, Traces), Phyllis Logan (Downton Abbey, Guilt), Parker Sawyers (Spy/Master, P-Valley), James Harkness (The Sixth Commandment, The Victim), Khalid Laith (Vigil, Cobra) and Amanda Drew (The Gold, Wolf).

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The BBC and Netflix didn’t detail what roles each castmember will play, but said that filming on the show, described as a “factual drama” made by ITV Studios banner World Productions, has begun in Scotland.

“The six-part series is based on the real events surrounding the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and the joint Scottish-U.S. investigation which sought to bring the perpetrators to justice,” the partners said. “Lockerbie will focus on the investigation into the crash on both sides of the Atlantic and the devastating effect it had on the small town and the families who lost loved ones. From the initial exhaustive search for evidence on the ground in Scotland, via the U.S. and Malta to the trial at Camp Zeist in 2000, the drama takes us right up to the most recent indictment at the end of 2022.”

As such, the project has the same title but a different focus from the upcoming five-part limited event series Lockerbie about the same attack for Comcast’s Peacock and Sky, which is led by Colin Firth (The King’s Speech, A Single Man, The Staircase) and also stars Catherine McCormack (Slow Horses, Temple). That series is based on the book The Lockerbie Bombing: A Father’s Search for Justice by Jim Swire and Peter Biddulph, along with other sources.

In the attack, a Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit was destroyed by a bomb 38 minutes after takeoff while flying over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew members. Parts of the aircraft crashed into a residential area, killing an additional 11 people. The 270 people killed included 43 British citizens and 190 Americans. “It was the worst-ever terror attack on British soil and the first major one on U.S. citizens,” highlighted Netflix and the BBC.

The lead writer on the project is novelist and screenwriter Jonathan Lee, with two episodes written by Scottish screenwriter Gillian Roger Park. The hourlong series is produced by World Productions (United, the story of the Munich air disaster), in association with MGM Television (The Devil’s Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes, Fargo) and Night Train Media (Rogue Agent, Catch Me a Killer). Lockerbie was initially developed by MGM Television and Night Train.

The series will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the U.K., followed by Netflix in the U.K. and globally. The producer is Julia Stannard (United, War and Peace, Anne) and Michael Keillor (Chimerica, Roadkill, Best Interests) is the director. “The project was initiated by filmmaker Adam Morane-Griffiths whose research includes extensive interviews with Scottish police officers and representatives from United States investigative agencies, many of whom have never previously shared their stories,” said the BBC and Netflix.

Production on Lockerbie will also include filming in Malta and Toronto.

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