Netflix has quietly become quite a talent factory here in the UK, specialising in finding young British actors and propelling them to massive fame when they star in shows and movies that go viral or climb the charts. While he wasn't the main star of Netflix's Sex Education, it's clear that Conor Swindell is using that show as a springboard.
Now he's fronting up another series for Netflix, and like Sex Education it's got a very British flavour to it, but with a much darker story. This is The Bombing of Pan Am 103, a retelling of the harrowing Lockerbie bombing, taking in the story from multiple perspectives, including Swindell's on the ground as what seems to be a local policeman.
The first trailer for the show came out this week, and revealed that it'll drop on Netflix this month, on 30 July – which is a bit of a surprise. Given the talent in the cast, I'd have thought Netflix would give this a little more publicity and hype-building time. As well as Swindell the show will have Patrick J. Adams, Merritt Wever, Eddie Marsan and more, so it's clearly quite a big project.
Those cast members will help to give the series an international flavour, as we see not just what it was like to be in Lockerbie during the crash and its aftermath, but also how the American authorities swung into action to investigate how such a disaster could have happened, and to chase down those it suspected were responsible for what was ultimately proven to be a bombing.
Famously one of the widest murder investigations ever, the police and crime scene work that went into working out how Lockerbie happened is well worth a retelling, although this is also something that's still relatively fresh in the memories of many living Brits. It'll be fascinating to see how historically accurate the show stays, and the trailer makes it look like that accuracy will be a priority.
For it to be unveiled like this with just a month before releasing would have been a bad sign in the days of traditional cinema releases, but it's harder to know what to expect in the streaming era. It's perfectly possible that this one could be a sleeper hit, with a compelling story to tell and the lure of a trans-Atlantic tone.
