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In Just 3 Days, Netflix’s New Crime Thriller Is a Global Streaming Sensation

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One of the greatest appeals of human nature lies in its ability to, on the one hand, conceive the most depraved thoughts and yet, on the other, the most virtuous and morally upright actions. Both sides have been the colors used to depict human history and even present-day life. Wars are a product of one of those sides and, as deadly as they are, there is a version of human depravity that is even more sinister. Terrorism. The horrors of these acts turn normal days into living nightmares for those who experience them, scarring the targeted nations and cities for years. The Twin Towers terror incident in Manhattan in the September 11 attacks often spring to mind for many. But over the years, there have been several similar incidents that have shocked the world.

While terror attacks occur ever so often across the globe and in multiple nations these days, the scale of some simply stick with you. Western civilizations like the United States and European nations are often prime targets and this was the case on December 21, 1988, when Pan Am Flight 103 en route from London to New York went down over Lockerbie, Scotland after a bomb went off. The resulting death toll was 270 fatalities, including 259 passengers and crew members, as well as 11 residents on the ground. 190 of those were American citizens and the incident became the deadliest terror attack in British history. An investigation would be launched immediately, with the results ultimately connecting back to Libyan intelligence operatives.

This horrifying tale arrived on Netflix in the 6-part miniseries titled The Bombing of Pan Am 103 on July 30 as part of the streamer’s push to expand its catalog. This marked the series’ international debut after airing on the BBC in the UK last year. In less than a week on the streaming giant, The Bombing of Pan Am 103 has become a global streaming hit. The series debuted with 5 million views while racking up an impressive 30 million hours viewed in just three days. While The Bombing of Pan Am 103 is appearing on Top 10 charts around the world, it is not performing as well in the United Kingdom. This, perhaps, might be linked to many seeing the limited series on the BBC.

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Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz
Which Action Hero Would Be
Your Perfect Partner?

Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt

Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.

🎖️Rambo

🍸James Bond

🏺Indiana Jones

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🔧John McClane

🎭Ethan Hunt

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01

You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner?
The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.





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02

You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel?
How you get there is half the mission.





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03

You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do?
This is when you find out what someone is really made of.





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04

The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest?
Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.





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05

How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission?
Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.





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06

Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them?
The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.





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07

Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do?
Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.





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08

What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace?
A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.





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09

Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with?
No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.





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10

It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now?
The last question is the most honest one.





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Your Partner Has Been Assigned
Your Perfect Partner Is…

Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.

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Rambo

Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.

James Bond

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Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.

Indiana Jones

Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.

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John McClane

Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.

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Ethan Hunt

Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.

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The Tragic Tale of ‘The Bombing of Pan Am 103’ Has Been Retold Before

​​​​​The Bombing of Pan Am 103 is not the first retelling of the terror attack and the investigation that trailed it. A limited series, Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, was released in January 2025 by Peacock and opted for a more personal story. While The Bombing of Pan Am 103 takes a more holistic approach, Lockerbie: A Search for Truth follows Jim Swire (Colin Firth), the father of a young medical student named Flora (Rosanna Adams), who was killed on the flight, and his mission to understand what had happened that day. Jim would work with local journalist Murray Guthrie (Sam Troughton), meet with Libyan political leader Colonel Gaddafi (Nabil Al Raee) and even encounter the suspected terrorist Abdelbaset al-Megrahi (Ardalan Esmaili).

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The Bombing of Pan Am 103 is co-created by Jonathan Lee and Adam Morane-Griffiths. Patrick J. Adams puts on another suit as he seeks answers for the public as part of the bureau. Other cast members include Tony Curran, Merritt Wever, Eddie Marsan, Peter Mullan, and Kevin McKidd. Connor Swindells features in this series as an investigating officer.

The Bombing of Pan Am 103 is currently streaming on Netflix. Stay tuned to Collider for updates.


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Release Date

2025 – 2025-00-00

Network
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BBC One

Directors

Michael Keillor

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Cast

  • Patrick J. Adams

    Dick Marquise

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  • Connor Swindells

    Ed McCusker

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