According to Deadline, the BBC network is developing a series following the Piper Alpha disaster, a devastating offshore oil incident that took place on July 6, 1988. In terms of lives lost, the disaster is revered as one of the most catastrophic oil accidents. The oil rig was located in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland and accounted for about 10% of gas and oil production in the North Sea area.
The series has yet to be greenlit and is in its early phases of development, reports Deadline. Working to develop the series into drama is writer James Wood (Quacks, The Gamechangers), Scottish production company STV Studios and the BBC. Using ongoing research, interviews, a novel titled Fire in the Night, which accounts the incident by journalist Stephen McGinty (Churchill’s Cigar, The Dive: The Untold Story of the World’s Deepest Submarine Rescue) and the 1990 Cullen report of the accident, the developing parties intend to portray the series as a factual drama via Deadline.
According to Deadline, the Piper Alpha project began in 1976 in the Scottish city of Aberdeen, one of Europe’s oil capitals. Only 12 years after Piper Alpha began production, the oil rig collapsed with devastating effects. Jet fires ensued, killing 165 men on the rig, and two rescuers were called to help the disaster. Only 61 people involved survived, with many bodies left unrecovered from the site.
The disaster is known as one of the “most expensive man-made catastrophes of all time,” says Deadline, on par with the 2010 Deepwater Horizons accident when comparing their impact on the oil industry.
STV Studios has previous experience working with Piper Alpha’s subject matter. In 2013, the studio produced Piper Alpha: Fire In The Night, a documentary that won a BAFTA. The BBC is also experienced with factual dramas, producing The Reckoning and The Sixth Commandment.