Code of Silence; The Bombing of Pan Am 103

“There may be nothing much innovative about the basic plot – or the side story about Alison and her mother living under the threat of eviction by a company that has bought their estate for potential redevelopment, the financial pressures from which provide much of the impetus for Alison’s decisions – but the strength of the cast, and [Rose] Ayling-Ellis in particular, carries things convincingly.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“Code of Silence is based on such a good idea that you wonder why nobody has done it before. Then you remember that Rose Ayling-Ellis is the first deaf performer to have a mainstream acting career. The TV industry has been waiting for someone like her to break through, a talented performer whose winning stint on Strictly Come Dancing showed us that she has the chops to carry a show.”
Anita Singh, Telegraph

“Ayling-Ellis is a revelation as a confused young woman who has reached a cross-roads in life, having split from he boyfriend with her 30th birthday looming. But while she puts flesh and blood on the character, where Code of Silence works best is as an old-school heist. There’s something about police trying to foil a bank job that scratches an itch that other thrillers never reach.”
Ed Power, The i

“Many of the heartbreaking stories that are briefly touched on in this first episode are so familiar now: the farming couple who stayed for hours with the body of a man who came down in their field, face down but still in his seat. The couple who drove to the scene searching for their son Tim Burman — “What if he’s out there alone in the cold?” Imagine the sheer torture of it. You can see that this is a sober and respectful telling of an extremely complex atrocity and the magnificent response of the local community. It is a story that should be heard. But if you felt it’s too much to immerse yourself in this excruciating pain, that would be understandable.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“With the plane’s black box finally found, indicating terrorism rather than engine failure, the first episode draws to a close with a candlelit vigil in Lockerbie and some stirring words from DCS Orr: “Whoever they are, wherever they are, we will bring them to justice.” No doubt, those lines were written based on the real man’s actual speech at the time – while that ruthless accuracy tends to undermine its narrative drive, the series ultimately feels more like a gripping documentary than a dull history module. Just as well, because The Bombing of Pan Am 103 has plenty to teach us — about grief, the roles individuals can play at historic moments — besides its rote facts. It is sometimes wooden, but never insubstantial.”
Emily Watkins, The i

“The hidden human cost of the post-crash chaos is where The Bombing of Pan Am 103, a six-part fictionalisation, initially tries to find its dramatic impetus: the series argues that the dignity of the victims and the sensitivities of their loved ones were trampled. More care should have been taken to respect the dead, it says. But it struggles to turn this admirable sentiment into drama.”
Jack Seale, The Guardian

“The script doesn’t allow us to become too involved with the individual stories, instead focusing on the relationship between the Scottish police and the FBI, which swings between collaboration and distrust. A supplementary storyline features Kathryn Turman (Merritt Weaver), an American who set up victim-support services for families that are still in use today. Another recent dramatisation, Lockerbie: a Search for Truth – which starred Colin Firth as bereaved father Dr Jim Swire – was more controversial, airing Swire’s theory that Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was framed. The Bombing of Pan Am 103 does not concern itself with that, and pointedly ends with a caption informing viewers that al-Megrahi served less than two weeks in prison for each life lost.”
Anita Singh, Telegraph