Lockerbie: A Search for Truth (Sky Atlantic/Now)
The Traitors (BBC One) | iPlayer
SAS Rogue Heroes (BBC One) | iPlayer
The Split: Barcelona (BBC One) | iPlayer
The years have not dimmed the horror of the Lockerbie bombing. On 21 December 1988, a bomb on Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York City was detonated over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing all 259 people on board and 11 people on the ground.
In the Sky Atlantic drama Lockerbie: A Search for Truth (directed by Otto Bathurst and Jim Loach from a script by playwright David Harrower and Maryam Hamidi), Colin Firth portrays Jim Swire, a doctor whose daughter was a passenger on the flight (the show is based on Swire’s 2021 book with Peter Biddulph: The Lockerbie Bombing: A Father’s Search for Justice).
Over five episodes, Swire’s decades-spanning fight to uncover the truth evolves into a dark, twisting maze involving Libya, Iran, Syria, explosives packed inside a Samsonite case, suppressed security alerts, controversial incarcerations (Ardalan Esmaili plays Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the alleged Libyan intelligence agent convicted of the bombing), oil, politics and diplomatic murk (there has never been a public inquiry into Lockerbie in the UK).
The astonishing opening scenes deal with the bombing and aftermath: a grim scattering of bodies, mangled plane parts and aircraft cutlery. At times there is a tactless emphasis on the children on board (someone is shown holding a dead baby in their arms). Such moments feel unnecessary: a bit cheap. In the main, though, disaster movie histrionics are avoided, with the focus trained on Swire as he identifies his daughter’s body on a pallet on an ice rink, then teams up with a journalist (Sam Troughton) to look for answers.
What emerges is a determined chronicling of the tragedy and the inconsistencies surrounding it: Swire goes from leading the Lockerbie bereavement group to staging stunts to expose lax airport security, to visiting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Lockerbie is also an agonising parable of repurposed grief and displacement activity. Swire and his wife, Jane, played by Catherine McCormack, are the undoubted emotional heartbeat of the piece. There is a standout scene in which Jane sits in front of the transport secretary, Cecil Parkinson, counting slowly to 15: the number of seconds her daughter may have been awake as she fell. Yet Swire’s obsessive pursuit of the truth is also shown to hurt his own family.
As a drama, there are points when Lockerbie gets tangled in the weeds, perhaps inevitably considering the passing of years, the trial and the relentless revelations and complications. Still, Firth – ashen, slumped, eyes darting – delivers a masterclass in subdued devastation as the father stumbling through a nightmare with a Lockerbie badge permanently – stubbornly – pinned to his jacket.
To BBC One, where a rustle of hooded cloaks, a swinging of lanterns and a haughty swish of presenter Claudia Winkleman’s Quink-black hair announced the return of The Traitors. Are you bored with it yet? I find that I’m not. Even though, despite a few tweaks, the main beats remain the same.
Of course they do: why mess with such a strong, globally acclaimed format? The Scottish Highlands castle (fast becoming as culturally imprinted as Downton Abbey or Manderley). The prize pot of up to £120,000. The mainly “Faithful” contestants (Anglican priest, opera singer et al) arriving on a train as if they’ve failed an audition for Murder on the Orient Express. Winkleman pacing around the round table choosing her Traitors with a squeeze of the shoulder, which belatedly struck me as a Freemason move (though I could be getting carried away).
I have only seen the opener, so I can’t yet tell you if they’ve sorted out those deadly prize fundraising tasks (the lone but substantial fly in The Traitors’ ointment). By this showing, however, I’d wager that our homegrown UK Traitors remains the crowning glory of all the different versions – US, Australia, New Zealand and more – which seems down in no small part to sticking with ordinary contestants (though a UK celebrity version is planned).
It’s also clear that the show’s popularity is exposing Britain’s dastardly underbelly to the world – not that anybody cares. The Traitors has turned into a national post-festive game of uber-Cluedo: forget Miss Scarlett, it’s Madame Claudia. In the breakfast room. In the never forgotten series one huge polo neck. Let the skulduggery commence!
In 2022, SAS Rogue Heroes, a quasi-origin story of the Special Air Service set during the second world war, erupted on to the screens. Created and written by Peaky Blinders’ Steven Knight and based on Ben Macintyre’s 2016 bestseller of the same name, it was initially something of a boy’s own hot mess (mega-violence; rock tracks; tiresome macho strutting), but then settled mid-series into something deeper, sadder and more impressive.
Now the second six-part series is here. SAS founder David Stirling (Connor Swindells) is marooned in a PoW facility, which serves as a side-plot. While Stirling’s officer brother (Gwilym Lee) becomes involved with the SAS, it’s left to poetic, volatile Irishman Paddy Mayne (Jack O’Connell) to lead the platoon into Sicily, then mainland Italy.
Dominic West’s colonel returns as a kind of booze-soaked Blimp. Sofia Boutella’s intelligence officer remains the only 3D female character. There’s still eardrum-melting music (from Sham 69 to Deep Purple), and this time Paddy delivers so many Tommy Shelby-like speeches you half expect him to turn Brummie.
However, SAS Rogue Heroes remains nimble and spirited, and a deep dive into PTSD skewers the machismo. Beyond the rock video dynamics, it’s a heartfelt show about combat, courage and the psychological havoc wreaked on even the bravest of souls.
In The Split: Barcelona, a two-part, Spanish-set spin-off of Abi Morgan’s prestige divorce lawyer soap drama, the daughter of Nicola Walker’s character, Hannah, (spoiler alert) was set to wed into an affluent wine family before it all went awry. Hannah’s ex-husband, Nathan (Stephen Mangan), has a new wife, toddler and trendy dad earring. The perma-thwarted Hannah has her own new love interest (Toby Stephens), though frankly they look at each other as if they are paper plates of congealing paella.
Spanish sun aside, it’s The Split business as usual: relationship torment styled by Reiss. Did the world need it? Nah, but it was a treat nonetheless.
Star ratings (out of five)
Lockerbie: A Search for Truth ★★★★
The Traitors ★★★★
SAS Rogue Heroes ★★★
The Split: Barcelona ★★★
What else I’m watching
Missing You
(Netflix)
A detective falls into danger after reconnecting with a man from her past in this latest suspenseful dramatisation of a Harlan Coben crime novel. A strong cast is headed by Rosalind Eleazar (Slow Horses) and Ashley Walters (Top Boy).
Lucy Worsley Investigates: Jack the Ripper
(BBC Two)
Opening her new four-part series on some of the most dramatic chapters in British history, the historian puts a vivid spin on how the 19th-century case of Jack the Ripper sparked today’s true crime obsession.
Vera
(ITV1)
A suitably astute final mystery for the no-nonsense Northumberland detective, originally created by Ann Cleeves, in the sensible shoes and signature hat. Starring the ever brilliant Brenda Blethyn. Goodbye, Vera pet.
