Given modern TV drama’s fondness for flashbacks, I expected Lockerbie: A Search For Truth to open with these statistics as a sobering reminder of what’s to come. But director Otto Bathurst knows you know what happened in Lockerbie – or at least that it was the worst terrorist attack in UK history.
(Photo: SKY/Carnival/Graeme Hunter Pictures)
It was a smart decision. While the drama did feature many of those clichéd prestige TV calling cards, from flash forwards to time and location jumps marked on screen, the opening episode was a masterclass in dread-building.
We watched the younger Jim at home with his family as they warmly waved daughter Flora (screen newcomer Rosanna Adams) off to spend Christmas with her boyfriend’s family for the first time. Yet as Jim pulled Flora into a hug with the words: “Go and have the time of your life.” The looming fear returned.
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Read MoreWhen the bomb finally did go off, it was almost a relief, a breaking of the tension. A loud noise, then quiet.
Yet even in these dramatic moments tightly stuffed with impressive practical effects, Lockerbie: A Search For Truth honed in on the human element.
Catherine McCormack as Jane Swire (Photo: SKY/Carnival/Graeme Hunter Pictures)
As the episode continued, the action went in a different direction, with Jim encountering government ministers, support groups and shady local journalists (Sam Troughton) in his quest for answers.
Bathurst knows this. By focusing on the real people impacted by this historic event, he makes that knowledge a curse that heightens the drama. This drama is all the more punishing and pain-inducing – and gripping and impactful – because you know what’s to come.
‘Lockerbie: A Search for Truth’ continues next Thursday at 9pm on Sky Atlantic
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