Colin Firth plays real-life campaigner Dr. Jim Swire in a new Sky & Peacock Original series, based on the U.K.’s deadliest-ever terrorist attack, Lockerbie: A Search for Truth.
First images and a teaser trailer were released on Monday, showing the Oscar-winning actor as Swire, a man who lost his young daughter Flora in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. The event claimed the lives of 270 people after the plane crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland, including U.S. and U.K. citizens. Catherine McCormack (Slow Horses, Temple) stars alongside Firth as Jane Swire.
The limited five-part series, which takes place over three decades, shows how Dr. Swire, driven by love and loss, risks everything in the wake of Lockerbie to find out the truth. Set amidst heightened international conflict and conspiracy, Firth’s character questions his long-held beliefs and allegiances as he mounts a controversial, decades-long campaign for justice that takes him to the deserts of Libya where he met Colonel Muammar Gaddafi (Nabil Alraee) and to the Netherlands for the trial of convicted Libyan national, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi (Ardalan Esmaili).
The series charts the devastating impact of Lockerbie on Jim and Jane Swire, their family, as well as the families of victims across the world.
“As the spokesperson for the U.K. victim’s families, we have followed Jim Swire’s remarkable story for over three decades,” said Gareth Neame and Nigel Marchant, executive producers for Carnival Films.
“It is consequential to now watch Colin Firth’s captivating performance as he depicts Jim’s life’s work on screen. In part a profoundly moving character story of love and loss, this drama is as much an investigative political thriller that shows how an ordinary man with unstoppable determination can take on governments and world leaders in pursuit of truth.”
The series is a co-production between Carnival Films, which is part of Universal International Studios, and Sky Studios. Scottish playwright David Harrower (Blackbird, Knives in Hens) is the lead writer.
Lockerbie: A Search for Truth will be released on Jan. 2 on Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW in the U.K. and Ireland, and on Peacock in the U.S. The series will also be airing on Sky in Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria in 2025.