Shift of focus for new drama surrounding Pan Am bombing

Kate Wobschall on The Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103

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An unimaginable atrocity, committed days before Christmas, in which more than 250 people died, is not at first glance the most obvious inspiration for a TV show.

The facts surrounding the Lockerbie bombing make for unspeakably grim reading.

On December 21, 1988, the Boeing 747 Clipper Maid of the Seas took off from Heathrow Airport, bound for New York. While flying above the Scottish town of Lockerbie, a bomb detonated, killing all 259 people on board, as well as 11 on the ground.

It was the deadliest terror attack in British history - and one which is recreated again in this new six-part drama.

The Bombing of Pan AM 103 on BBC1 on Sunday is just one of a number of drama/documentaries made about the Lockerbie bombing.

Back in 1990, there was a TV movie The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story) while barely six months ago, we saw Colin Firth at his anguished best as Dr Jim Swire, a grieving father who campaigned for justice after his daughter Flora was killed in the atrocity, in the Sky series Lockerbie.