Lockerbie: Our Story : Synopsis

‘He's both the brother we had, but also a victim of Pan Am 103’. Tanya Burman

On 21st December 1988, passenger jet Pan Am 103 was blown up over the small Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 259 on board and 11 on the ground. It was the UK’s largest crime scene and to this day it remains the deadliest terrorist attack on British soil.

In Lockerbie: Our Story families and loved ones, most of whom are speaking for the first time, tell the deeply personal story of six victims, each with their own hopes and dreams. Between them they build a profoundly moving film about the power of love, hope and the unbreakable bonds of family and friendship. Yet never far from the surface grief and the eternal ‘what if’ hangs in the air, unanswered and unanswerable.

In Birmingham, Jamaican-born Donna remembers her sister, Olive Gordon, a hairdresser, who died aged 25 and what she might have become had she not died: ‘She’d probably be an influencer right now’; and how Olive had bought a last-minute ticket so that she could go Christmas shopping in New York. And Colyn, Olive’s younger brother, attempts to find closure by visiting his sisters former flat in Clapham, London.

In Kensington, London, John, son of Greek shipping titan Minas Kulukundis, who died aged 38, remembers his father was originally booked on an earlier Concorde flight to New York to attend his brother’s funeral in New York, before changing plans so he could be home for the family Christmas Party. Later John finds a treasure trove full of mementos and photographs that his father kept, including their last ever trip together to Japan just before he died.

In Glasgow, sisters Fiona, Rachel and Tanya remember their brother, Tim Burman, a banker who died aged 24. Together they watch the only remaining video footage of their brother which neither Rachel or Fiona have ever seen. And we meet Rose who Tim met in Australia during a gap year after university. As Rose recounts how they fell in love; she poignantly reveals how Tim bought a ticket so he could spend Christmas in Manhattan with her.

In Lancaster Pentecostal Minister Reverend John Mosey and wife Lisa remember their daughter, Helga, a 19-year-old au pair, working in New Jersey, later about to study music at university. Months after the disaster Lisa was given her daughter’s watch that survived the explosion: ‘it’s still somehow working, and our daughter is dead’.

And friends spread out between Surrey, St Andrews and the Isle of Mull remember Terri Saunders and Billy MacAllister, a couple who died and later were buried together. Friend Alison who worked with Terri in the marketing department of Barclays in London remembers how “she made such an impact in my life. She came into my life at the perfect time.’ ; while family friends in Isle of Mull remember Billy a self-taught golfing pro going to America to begin a new business venture.