On 21 December 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 people on board and 11 residents on the ground. What follows is one of the largest and most complex terrorism investigations ever undertaken in Britain, forcing Scottish detectives and the FBI to work across borders, sift through an enormous debris field and reconstruct how a bomb was placed aboard the aircraft. Based on real events, the series follows both the painstaking search for those responsible and the devastating impact of the attack on the town of Lockerbie and on families on both sides of the Atlantic. In the first three episodes, the investigation begins amid chaos as police recover bodies and fragments of the aircraft while international pressure mounts for answers. Early clues lead investigators toward possible suspects and networks connected to the bombing, but every breakthrough raises new questions. When Scottish officers travel to the United States with potentially crucial evidence, tensions emerge between agencies, particularly over intelligence the CIA may be withholding about a possible bomb maker. The result is a gripping reconstruction of an inquiry in which forensic evidence, international politics and competing intelligence interests collide, while the families of the victims wait for the truth.
During 1959-1961 both the Americans and Soviets are planning manned space flight, and we see both sides preparing to do so with the development of the Vostok programme (Russia) and Project Mercury (USA). After difficulties and failures on both sides, the Soviets succeed in putting Yuri Gagarin into space first, with the Americans putting Alan Shepard up shortly afterwards.
In the first three episodes, the investigation begins amid chaos as police recover bodies and fragments of the aircraft while international pressure mounts for answers. Early clues lead investigators toward possible suspects and networks connected to the bombing, but every breakthrough raises new questions. When Scottish officers travel to the United States with potentially crucial evidence, tensions emerge between agencies, particularly over intelligence the CIA may be withholding about a possible bomb maker. The result is a gripping reconstruction of an inquiry in which forensic evidence, international politics and competing intelligence interests collide, while the families of the victims wait for the truth.