The mother of a Bristol woman who died in the 7/7 London Bombings 20 years ago this year appears in a new BBC documentary series. Julie Nicholson’s daughter Jenny was 24 when she died after a bomb was detonated on the Circle Line train she was on while travelling to work that morning.
A graduate from Bristol University with an MA in Music, she was working for a music publisher in London in 2005. On the morning of 7/7, there were reportedly issues with the Bakerloo line so Jenny was forced to take the Circle Line.
She stepped into the second carriage of the underground train as it travelled through the tunnels of Edgware Road and, at 8.49am, terrorist Mohammad Sidique Khan detonated one of four bombs that went off in the capital that morning. Jenny was one of 52 innocent people killed in the attacks.
In the year that will mark 20 years since that fateful day, Jenny’s mother Julie – who has spoken in many an interview, documentary, and even wrote a book, Song For Jenny, which was adapted into a BBC television film starring Emily Watson, in 2015 – appears in a brand new four-part BBC Two documentary series, which is available to watch on BBC iPlayer now.
She’ll be sharing her story in the documentary, which is titled ‘7/7: The London Bombings’, which delves into the attacks and the subsequent investigations. The documentary includes stories from a vast array of people, including survivors, counter terrorism investigators, forensic teams, body recovery teams and more – including Prime Minister at the time, Tony Blair, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair, then Home Secretary Charles Clarke and members of MI5.
In one scene, counter terrorism investigator Clive Holland is overcome with emotion as he recalls the sound of phones ringing by the bodies of victims. While in another harrowing recollection Dave Skiffins, part of a body recovery team, explained how he swallowed his own vomit so as not to contaminate the crime scene.
Julie, who turns 72 this year, had been a priest in Bristol at the time. She later stepped down from her role as she said she could not forgive the man responsible for Jenny’s death. Jenny’s funeral was held at Bristol Cathedral.
In an interview with Metro, Julie says she agreed to appear in the documentary because it offered a ‘bigger picture’ of the devastation caused by the suicide bombers. Made by the team behind the multi-award winning BBC documentary, ‘9/11 Inside: The President’s War Room’, the four 60-minute episodes will also tell the story of the three-week hunt to catch the bombers. It will follow the investigation ‘forensically and painstakingly, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day’.
The entire series is now available to stream on BBC iPlayer.