Oscar winning Colin Firth to star in Lockerbie bomb TV drama

The English actor, star of The King’s Speech, A Single Man and Bridget Jones’s Diary, is to star in a forthcoming five-part dramatisation about Dr Jim Swire’s dogged pursuit for answers following the 1988 air disaster which killed his daughter Flora.

A book about the tragedy - ‘The Lockerbie Bombing: A Father’s Search for Justice’ - was published in 2021 after a collaboration of more than 20 years between Dr Swire and Stourbridge writer Peter Biddulph.

The book describes in detail Dr Swire’s painstaking search for the truth after losing his beloved daughter Flora when a bomb went off on Pan Am Flight 103 killing all 259 people on board and 11 on the ground in the Scottish town of Lockerbie.

The tragedy happened just 38 minutes into the London to New York flight on December 21 - the eve of Flora’s 24th birthday.

Dr Jim Swire's daughter Flora who died in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing (Image: Press Association)

Since that fateful day, Dr Swire - who lived in Bromsgrove before moving to Chipping Camden - has with his wife Jane devoted his life to campaigning and researching what really happened and how the disaster could have been prevented.

His campaign led to meetings with Libya’s Colonel Gaddafi and successive British Prime Ministers before Libyan national Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted 13 years later. He was released on compassionate grounds in 2009 before passing away from cancer in 2012 but Dr Squire always believed he was innocent.

Now, the relentless quest for justice is to be told in an upcoming Sky and Peacock Original five-part series entitled Lockerbie, with 63-year-old Firth set to star as Dr Swire, whose view of the world has been completely turned on its head as a result of his investigations.

Dr Jim Swire (Image: Handout)

Dr Swire, aged 87, said he and wife Jane, aged 84, were “delighted” at the news.

He said: “We both feel he’s a man of very considerable integrity and I look forward to working with him on the making of the film.”

Co-author Mr Biddulph, who spent 40 years working for the health service before turning his hand to writing, said of the high-profile casting: “You couldn’t really ask for a better actor for this part.

“Colin’s got a wide range of experience which he’s accumulated since he was Mr Darcy (in Pride and Prejudice) – he’s become one of the greatest actors in the world.”

Actor Colin Firth (Image: Mariano Vivanco)

Mr Biddulph, who turns 84 this week, added: “We feel very proud that he’s going to be speaking words from our book. It’s an amazing experience for Jim and me to have come this far after so many years.”

Filming is set to start in early February in Scotland – and Lockerbie, a co-production between Carnival Films (part of Universal International Studios) and Sky Studios, will be available to watch on Sky and streaming service NOW in the UK upon release.

BAFTA award-winning director of Peaky Blinders - Otto Bathurst – is the lead director for the project, with renowned Scottish playwright David Harrower taking on lead writer duties.

Mr Biddulph added: “We are all extremely proud and very grateful to Nigel Marchant of Carnival Films and his team – they’ve done great work on this.”