The Bombing of Pan Am 103: Expansive Lockerbie drama balances emotion and detail

That word - expansive - can be a warning sign. Just because something is bigger, doesn't mean it's better, and there are a host of shows and films which have lost their way in the midst of their unwieldy cast lists and unfocused narratives.

Thankfully, that isn't the case with The Bombing of Pan Am 103, a drama which is not without fault, but which impressively never loses sight of the emotional core of its storytelling.

The Bombing of Pan Am 103 stars Connor Swindells, heading up an ensemble which also includes Patrick J Adams, Merritt Wever, Peter Mullan, Tony Curran, Eddie Marsan, Nicholas Gleaves, Kevin McKidd, Douglas Hodge, Lauren Lyle, Andrew Rothney and Phyllis Logan - and that's just scratching the surface.

Swindells plays Ed McCusker, a real-life Scottish detective who was on duty in Glasgow when a bomb exploded on board flight Pan Am 103, which was en route from Heathrow to JFK.

The plane exploded over the town of Lockerbie, with the wreckage falling to the ground. In total, 270 people, including 43 British citizens and 190 Americans, were killed, in what was the worst ever terror attack on British soil and the first major act of terrorism against US citizens. It also became the UK's largest crime scene, given how far the wreckage spread.

It's a story many will already know the basics of, but few will be aware of all of the details featured in this impressively researched drama, which really does take on an enormous storytelling challenge.

Not only does the series want to delve into the investigation on the ground in Scotland, but also the FBI's investigation in the US. It also looks at the lives the townspeople of Lockerbie, as well as those whose family members and friends were killed.

In a six-part series, particularly one which runs all of the storylines concurrently rather than taking them separately or one by one, this could have so easily buckled under its own weight.

The reasons it doesn't are two-fold. Firstly, an efficiency of storytelling and dialogue. The information is crammed in here, but never in a way which feels overwhelming, just highly educative.

The second, and perhaps the most important reason, is that it never forgets the emotion at the heart of the story it's telling. This is, naturally, an extremely sensitive topic for so many people, and the material has been duly handled in a manner recognising that.

The series never shies away from showing the unimaginable personal devastation individuals, or whole communities, are feeling following the attack.

In many ways, it's the smaller, human moments in which the series most excels. For instance, Ed's relationship with a young local boy called Steven, who lost his parents and sister to the falling wreckage, is beautifully realised and a lovely, human thread that recurs throughout.

Scenes in which they talk on a bench or play football together, trying to overcome this trauma which has affected them both in entirely different ways, are some of the strongest from across the series.

Of course, these scenes are effective not just because they are well-written and observed, but because of the performances.

Swindells in particular gives a tour-de-force performance throughout, making every moment of screen-time worthwhile and every look a telling insight into the internal life of the character we are getting to know. The fact he does this with a remarkably strong Glaswegian accent makes it all the more miraculous.

Mullen is another actor worth singling out for his performance as John Orr, who heads up the Scottish investigation. It's hardly a surprise, the gravitas he brings to every one of his scenes, given his previous work, but he really does exceed himself here.

Over on the other side of the Atlantic, we follow Adams as Dick Marquise, an FBI agent assigned to the case, and Wever as Kathryn Turman, both of whom bolster their particular storylines.

Kathryn's story, in which she works to bring greater assistance to the bereaved families, is a compelling addition, and one which demonstrates the show's keen eye for which elements of the real history to include, even if they may not initially seem as joined up as others.

Meanwhile, Marsan plays explosives expert Tom Thurman from Kentucky. Casting Marsan in your project can never be a bad thing, but the decision to have him take on a man with a Kentucky accent was... bold. Unfortunately, his proximity to real Americans only helps to make it stand out more.

It's one of the few elements which can occasionally be distracting throughout the show's run. Some oddly showy camera work in scenes which speak for themselves, and some slightly stilted emotional exchanges early on, do break the immersion a couple of times.

However, as soon as the aftermath of the plane crash is staged, all quibbles are thrown aside. It's a lengthy, visually stunning and horrifying sequence, which has been spectacularly realised by the effects teams and production designers. This is a series with multiple production partners, and the additional budget that will have granted really does show.

Director Michael Keillor and lead writer Jonathan Lee show some real restraint in allowing us to sit in the quiet horror of it all for some time, rather than filling the sequence with unnecessary exposition or artificial moments of action.

It's another case of where this series is at its most impressive when it's quiet - when the characters are simply taking in and exhibiting the emotion of the moment, rather than in the more traditional investigative sequences, well-staged as they are.

By this point in time, we've seen so many dramas based on real-life incidents or tragedies that just dramatising a historic event without a clear concept won't necessarily cut it. The fact that we saw one about the Lockerbie bombing earlier this year makes this point all the more clear.

Thankfully, The Bombing of Pan Am 103 does have a clear angle. It aims to show the scale of the tragedy both externally, within every individual affected, and then explore how the community, both local and international, came together to heal.

Although they are very different in tone, subject matter and so many other ways, one BBC drama which The Bombing of Pan Am 103 in some ways felt reminiscent of was The Gold - a series which is soon to return for a second season.

It's not just the 1980s time period which helps to link the two. It's also the size of the cast, the globe-trotting nature, the scope of the production, the level of ambition and the fact both have well-drawn themes at their centre.

Both series have been born out of co-productions, helping to explain their instantly apparent budgets, but at a time when the funding crisis in the UK scripted sector appears to be hitting so hard, it is always invigorating to see a BBC series operating at this scale, while retaining its British identity, its attention to historical detail and its emotional core.

The Bombing of Pan Am 103 premieres on BBC One and iPlayer on Sunday 18th May, with new episodes premiering at 9pm every Sunday and Monday for three weeks.

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