Stourbridge author's Lockerbie book to become TV mini series

Peter Biddulph, aged 82, has spent 22 years researching and writing the story of bereaved father Dr Jim Swire’s search for the truth about his daughter Flora's tragic death in the 1988 air disaster.

It was the eve of Flora's 24th birthday when a bomb went off on December 21, less than 40 minutes into the London to New York flight, killing all 259 on board Pan Am Flight 103 and 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland.

Dr Swire, aged 86, who lived in Bromsgrove before moving to Chipping Camden, has devoted his life to seeking the truth about what happened - together with wife Jane, 83.

His campaign led to meetings with Libya’s Colonel Gaddafi and successive British Prime Ministers before Libyan national Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted 13 years later. He was released on compassionate grounds in 2009 before passing away from cancer in 2012 but Dr Squire always believed he was innocent.

There are so many untold facets to the story, however, said Mr Biddulph, who spent nearly 40 years working for the health service.

He told how the complex nature of the search for evidence appealed to him and he said writing The Lockerbie Bombing: A Father’s Search for Justice, published in May 2021, had been a labour of love.

He added: "I thought I'd just got to tell this man's story."

Peter Biddulph (Image: Handout)

Oldswinford-based Mr Biddulph first met Dr Swire in 1999 and the pair spent two decades working on the book, which is now being turned into a five-part TV series.

Academy Award-nominated writers Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot) and Kirsten Sheridan are taking on the tale - a co-production between Carnival Pictures, Universal Content Productions and Sky Studios, with the series expected to air on Sky next year.