Production has begun on a major new drama about the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, starring Colin Firth as Dr Jim Swire.

The five-part drama films until the end of May, and is from Carnival Films and Sky Studios for Sky and Peacock.

The drama is based on the book The Lockerbie Bombing: A Father’s Search for Justice by Jim Swire and Peter Biddulph, along with multiple other sources. Firth plays Dr Jim Swire, who lost his daughter, Flora, in the devastating event and has relentlessly pursued justice, along with his wife Jane, ever since.

Scottish playwright David Harrower is lead writer with Maryam Hamidi guest writer on an episode. Otto Bathurst is lead director, while Jim Loach will direct an episode.

Brian Kaczynski produces with Maryam Hamidi also serving as associate producer. Gareth Neame and Nigel Marchant are executive producers for Carnival Films; Sam Hoyle is executive producer for Sky Studios. Other executive producers include Harrower, Liz Trubridge, Jim Sheridan, Kirsten Sheridan and Oskar Slingerland.

Another drama about the Lockerbie bombing and the exhaustive investigation that followed is in the works at World Productions, for Netflix. Production Intelligence subscribers can log in for full details on that series, including shoot dates and key HoDs.