7/7: The London Bombings | Preview (BBC Two)

On 7 July 2005, bombs are detonated at Aldgate, Edgware Road and Russell Square. An hour later, another bomb blows up on a bus at Tavistock Square.

The police had no idea it was the work of suicide bombers. At the same time, at Cobra, the prime minister demands answers. Forensic officers carry out a detailed search, and a CCTV coordinator steps over body parts at Tavistock Square, trying to find evidence. But the police still aren’t certain if this is the work of suicide bombers.

Meanwhile, the casualty telephone line is inundated as 47,000 people ring in the first hour. Will the police find out who did it before they strike again?

On the 8th, the police and security services are concerned that a new attack is coming. They don’t know for certain that the bombers killed themselves in the blasts.

At the explosion sites, scene of crime investigators pick through the wreckage and endure the emotionally taxing task of recovering human remains. As they search, they discover the ID of two individuals at two different bomb sites, concluding these were suicide bombings.

In a major breakthrough, police use CCTV to trace the movements of the bombers from King’s Cross back to Luton. They identify a fourth bomber and begin to search for a reason why four apparently ordinary men have chosen to kill 52 people.

Unknown to the police another conspiracy is brewing and comes to fruition on 21 July, with four more bombs being planted on London’s transport network. This time, they don’t kill or injure anyone, as they fail to properly detonate. But the bombers are still on the loose.

Twenty-four hours later, intelligence leads the police to a south London address. They follow a man who they believe could be one of the bombers and track him to Stockwell tube station. Surveillance officers follow him onto a train, and firearms officers run onto the carriage and shoot him dead.

Police believe they’ve shot one of the would-be 21 July bombers on a tube train. But was he a terrorist or was he an innocent bystander? Witnesses say he leapt the ticket barriers, running away from police

At the scene, the dead man’s personal effects suggest he’s a Brazilian called Jean Charles de Menezes and not the bomber. Nobody tells commissioner Sir Ian Blair, who holds a press conference indicating they’d shot the right man.

A tip off leads police to the bomb factory, but the bombers aren’t there. When they finally locate a suspect, he outwits them. A desperate manhunt culminates in two armed encounters between police and the terrorists.

Two decades on, investigators, rescuers, survivors and grieving relatives reveal how the London bombings have shaped their lives.

7/7: The London Bombings begins Sunday 5th January on BBC Two and iPlayer.