7/7: The London Bombings – a 'sombre and compelling' documentary

From Tony Blair to MI5's Eliza Manningham-Buller, the BBC series about London's 7 July bombings has a "cast list of high-level political figures", said Sean O'Neill in The Times. But it's "the people on the ground" who make the documentary "such a sombre and compelling watch".

The team behind "9/11: Inside the President's War Room" have "turned their attention" to the events of 20 years ago, examining the tragedy through the eyes of the victims, survivors and police, said Anita Singh in The Telegraph. There is "little from the politicians"; instead, we hear first-hand from the forensic teams and counter-terror detectives as they "race to identify the four suicide bombers whose attacks claimed 52 lives".

We're also given an insight into the "nightmarish experiences" of those caught up in the bombings, including Martine Wright, who lost both legs in the Aldgate underground explosion, and Bill Mann who "escaped serious injury and returned home, by train, covered in blood and soot". The details that emerge of the moments directly following the attacks are "harrowing": "God almighty, the screaming," says one of the witnesses of the Russell Square bombing.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The documentary is a "testament" to the bravery of the police who were first to attend the scenes. Following hours spent "combing the Tube wreckage" in search of survivors, some of the officers slept in nearby carriages to "ensure that the dead were never left alone". In stark contrast, the "top brass do not cover themselves in glory" – especially when it comes to the subsequent shooting of Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes in a case of mistaken identity.

"Many of the details are unimaginably distressing" and it's clear that, two decades on, it's still "agony" for those interviewed to revisit their memories of that day, said Phil Harrison in The Guardian. But the series "doesn't stop on 7 July". As the "meticulous" documentary unfolds, the filmmakers explore the "deeply political" events that followed and the "implications that continue to resonate" to this day.

While the documentary fails to uncover any "great revelations", said O'Neill in The Times, it does offer a "potent reminder of a terrifying time for London" and the enormous "resilience" of its people.