Jane Swire was forced into any parent’s worst nightmare when her daughter, Flora, was killed on board Pan-Am Flight 103 in December 1988.
Just shy of turning 24, Flora was heading to New York to visit her boyfriend when the plane was targeted by terrorists, who exploded the plane and killed 270 people.
But that was just the start of the family ordeal, with Jane’s husband Jim Swire becoming the spokesperson for the families, who wanted answers when things didn’t add up.
Soon, Jane and Jim are in the middle of an international incident that is still to reach its conclusion 36 years on – and in Lockerbie: A Search For Truth, the past three decades of their lives, where their marriage was put under immense strain as a result of the fight, are recounted.
Speaking ahead of the series launch, actress Catherine McCormack talks about how she brought her version of Jane to the screen, working with Colin Firth, and how the emotional core of the story impacts her.
What drew you to this project in the first instance?
David Harrower’s scripts, based on Jim Swire and Peter Biddulph’s book, The Lockerbie Bombing – A Father’s Search for Justice, were sent to me, with Otto Bathurst attached as director.
I was a fan of both David and Otto’s previous work having known David as a playwright and loved his plays Knives In Hens and Blackbird and Otto had directed one of my favourite Black Mirror episodes, "The National Anthem", so I was excited to read them.
I was 16 when the Lockerbie bombing happened and I remember news footage on the TV at the time, but in terms of Jim Swire’s personal story and his campaigning over the years for an inquiry and the extraordinary lengths he went to find out who was responsible for his daughter Flora’s death, I knew very little, so the scripts were a revelation to me.
Alongside Jim’s story was the Swire’s family tragedy. The scripts focused mainly on Jim and his wife Jane’s relationship and their struggles over a 30 year period to deal with the death of their daughter. This for me felt like the emotional heart of David’s scripts, so when I was offered the role of Jane, it was a real honour.
Of course, it was also a rather daunting prospect playing a real life person who had suffered such a great loss.
How did you try to understand who Jane Swire is?
I watched a few documentaries about Lockerbie and Jane was interviewed in a couple of them. There wasn’t much footage of her but in the brief moments she spoke on camera she had such grace and dignity.
There was a particular moment in the Sky documentary [add link to Lockerbie doc page] where Jane is asked how she dealt with Flora’s death. She says: “I just tried to survive it, one step at a time”. For me, this simple moment was so full of Jane’s humanity, vulnerability and strength, that it became a bit of a guiding light for me.
How did you find working with Colin Firth on scenes when Jim and Jane Swire are together?
Colin is a great collaborator. There’s no ego at all. When you’re working with someone like that it’s easy to have a connection, which is a wonderful thing when you’re portraying a relationship of so many years as we were.
Also, due to the nature of the subject matter it was really helpful that we were able to make each other laugh occasionally on set. You need that if you’re portraying a couple across three decades… Yes, it makes it so much easier if you get on with the people you’re working with. If you trust everyone around you, you take more risks. At least that’s how it works for me.
It was the same with the actors playing our children, Jemma Carlton and Harry Redding. I’d worked with Jemma briefly before, but I didn’t know her well. In rehearsals there was such a lovely connection between us all. It was just easy. I think that really helps when creating an instant family dynamic and hopefully it shows on screen.
Which scenes during production have been particularly impactful from your perspective?
I suppose two particularly impactful scenes for me would be the Cecil Parkinson scene in episode one, and the scene on the beach in episode five with Jim and Jane and the family, 30 years or so after Flora’s death.
In the first scene Jane and Jim are waiting to see Cecil Parkinson, the UK Transport Secretary, to demand an inquiry. Jim is his usual forthright, determined self, demanding to be heard and Jane, the quieter presence in the room. As the scene goes on and Parkinson blocks Jim at every turn, Jane starts to talk about these nightmares she’s been having of Flora in her last moments falling through the sky. This is the first time she articulates the torment of what’s been going on for her.
These nightmares were one of the keys to understanding Jane’s grief for me. Jim talks about them in his book, how Jane was plagued by thoughts of her daughter’s final moments, the terrible guilt she felt at not being there for Flora. He also mentions Jane’s need to read everything on the subject of planes breaking up in mid-air and what would happen to a person falling to the earth from 33,000 feet if they were still alive. I found this scene incredibly emotional as it gave me a glimpse into the mental anguish Jane must have been going through silently, every day, trapped inside her head.
In the second scene, near the end of the show in episode 5, Jim and Jane are with their family on the beach in Skye, watching their kids and grandkids play. Jim tells Jane that Megrahi has died. It’s this beautifully written scene between the two of them where Jane expresses that she understands Jim will never give up on his search for the truth of what happened to Flora and she loves him for all of that, even if at times it’s almost pulled their family apart.
There’s so much history between them in this moment - they’ve been through so much together and they are still here by each other’s side.