A Daily Mail television critic has condemned the BBC2 broadcast of the Australian drama The Newsreader, saying the show's third series used the 1988 Lockerbie air disaster as the backdrop for a scene played for light comedy.
Christopher Stevens wrote in a review published Sept. 11, 2025, that the programme’s opening sequence — set in December 1988 — depicts presenters bickering in a car before stumbling into a field where the smouldering wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 lies. "To use the Lockerbie crash as a backdrop for light comedy is simply unforgivable," Stevens wrote, noting that the 1988 terrorist bombing killed 270 people, including 11 on the ground.
Stevens said the episode cuts between the on-site sequence and a later gala awards night in Melbourne, where the show’s characters are depicted as being nominated for coverage of the Lockerbie story and other personality prizes. He described the series as an Australian romantic drama that frequently edges toward comedy and stylised 1980s fashions, and said previous episodes had woven real-life headlines such as the Challenger shuttle explosion and the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown into storylines "with decency." The critic argued the latest episode departed from that approach by using a recent and raw tragedy for comic effect.
The Newsreader is produced by Werner Film, which is owned by BBC Studios, the broadcaster’s commercial arm. Stevens questioned whether BBC commissioning or acquisitions teams had screened the opening minutes before the import was scheduled on BBC2, writing that either no one watched the sequence or that viewers failed to recognise how offensive it would be to survivors and relatives.
Stevens highlighted specific moments from the broadcast, including a line of dialogue about knowing their location — "When was the last time you knew where we were?" followed by "Err . . . Gretna Green" — and a pratfall-style scramble when a turn-off is missed. He also noted the use of archive footage and a cameo by actor Bryan Brown to create the impression the fictional presenters were present during the real-world events.
The review framed the complaint within the programme’s established tone, saying The Newsreader often mixes "frothy fun" and newsroom backstage drama but that the Lockerbie sequence represented "an appalling lapse of judgment and taste." The article did not include responses from the BBC, the programme’s producers or representatives for The Newsreader.
The Newsreader, which dramatizes rivalries and relationships among 1980s current affairs presenters, has been distributed internationally. The Daily Mail review is the first widely reported critique asserting that the handling of the Lockerbie material crossed a line between historical dramatization and inappropriate black humour.