Latest news with #AdamWishart
Graziadaily
03-07-2025
- Graziadaily
The 7/7 Bombings: 'It Was Hell – Nothing Can Prepare You'
Twenty years ago, London suffered the biggest act of murder on English soil since the Second World War. On 7 July 2005 at around 8.50am, three bombs went off on Tube trains close to Aldgate, Edgware Road and Russell Square stations. An hour later, a bus in Tavistock Square was torn apart by a fourth explosion. Fifty-two people were killed and more than 700 injured. The events triggered the most extensive criminal investigation in British history, as authorities rushed to prevent more killings. 'The politicians and police were concerned that this was the first of a wave of attacks that would wreck London,' says Adam Wishart, who, with James Nally, co-authored new book Three Weeks In July and co-directed 7/7: The London Bombings , a documentary on BBC iPlayer. 'They were dealing with a huge psychic shock. It was incredibly urgent to work out what had happened, and uncover the network surrounding the perpetrators.' Many survivors suffered life-changing injuries. Martine Wiltshire lost both her legs on the Aldgate train; she recalls seeing one of her new shoes caught in tangled metal far away from her, and struggling to understand. 'Since then she has become a sitting volleyball player, a Paralympian and a motivational speaker – it's a central element of her life,' says Wishart. 'But there are some people, I imagine, who have put the experience in a box and buried it.' An officer on the anti-terrorism squad, Dave Skiffins was one of those who went into the shell of the Tube carriage below Russell Square and collected the remains of more than 20 bodies. 'Individual people were sometimes blown into hundreds of pieces,' he told Wishart and Nally. 'It was hell. To see such devastation. No amount of training prepares you for that – the bodies, the bits, the blood. These people were taken in the prime of their lives. That's what got us more than anything. When they left home that morning to go to work, they didn't know that it was all going to end there.' Skiffins still regularly dreams about what he saw. At the highest level, then-Prime Minister Tony Blair was responsible for protecting the country. Talking to him, says Wishart, it was clear that he found the event emotional and frightening. 'Above all, the purpose of Government is to keep citizens safe – and in that sense he had failed.' Blair told the authors that he remembers, the following evening, watching his five-year-old son sleep. 'I'd spent all day just trying to do the job of being Prime Minister. But you are a human being... I remember going and seeing Leo sleeping and just thinking, 'What does it all mean for him, for his generation, for the country he's going to grow up in and for the future?'' The book makes it clear that there are no easy decisions or solutions in dealing with a terror threat – but intelligence services were criticised for what they'd missed. It emerged that one bomber, Mohammad Sidique Khan, had been flagged in previous investigations. 'There was a lot of chatter in the press about how MI5 could have acted sooner,' says Wishart. 'But it's a dilemma. You can stop every suicide bomber if you have a totalitarian state – but otherwise someone has to prioritise who we should follow and who we shouldn't.' Two weeks after the bombings, the Met Police took a risk to stop a potential attack and got it horribly wrong. On 21 July 2005, four more bombs had been detonated in London but failed to explode, triggering a manhunt for those responsible. The next day, the innocent 27-year-old Jean Charles de Menezes was mistaken by police for suspect Hussain Osman, and was shot dead. 'It was a terrible tragedy following a series of awful mistakes,' says Wishart. 'The police then lied to try to cover up the incident, and that was something that did lasting damage to their reputation.'
Time of India
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers OTT Release Date - When and where to watch this chilling documentary
Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers OTT Release Date - Netflix is dropping this powerful documentary on 1st July 2025, and it's not your average true-crime story. This digs deep into one of the most horrifying days in modern British history. It's chilling, emotional, and straight to the point. Here's what it's all about, the real incident that inspired it and why it matters. The real-life tragedy: What happened on 7/7? On the morning of July 7, 2005, London woke up like any other day. People boarded buses and packed onto the Underground trains, heading to work, school, or home. But by 8:50 AM, everything changed. Four young British men, radicalised and armed with homemade bombs, carried out coordinated suicide attacks on three tube trains and a double-decker bus. Three blasts hit trains near Aldgate, Edgware Road, and Russell Square. An hour later, the fourth bomb exploded on a bus at Tavistock Square. The result? 52 innocent lives lost and over 700 people injured. It was the UK's first-ever suicide bombing. The attack shocked the world, not just because of the death toll, but because the attackers were British citizens. The city came to a halt. Emergency services raced to the scenes. Families searched desperately for loved ones. And the country was left asking: Who were these men, and how did this happen on our soil? What does the documentary cover? Titled 7/7: Hunting The London Bombers, this four-part docuseries follows the urgent investigation that took place in the days and weeks after the attack. Each episode takes you deeper: Episode 1 covers the chaos of the morning and how people first reacted to what they thought were 'power surges.' Episode 2 reveals how investigators identified the bombers using CCTV and forensic evidence. Episode 3 digs into the failed follow-up attack on July 21 and how close the UK came to another disaster. Episode 4 ties it all together with survivor stories, political responses, and how the investigation changed counterterrorism forever. Who's behind it? The documentary is made by the same folks who brought us '9/11: Inside the President's War Room.' Directors Adam Wishart and Jim Nally, along with producer Neil Grant, are leading the charge. It's built on real voices, from survivors, forensic experts, counterterrorism detectives, law enforcement, and intelligence officers. Some of the key people featured include: Martine Wright, who lost both legs in the Aldgate blast and rebuilt her life after. Tony Blair, UK Prime Minister at the time, on what it was like leading the country through a nightmare. Eliza Manningham-Buller, former MI5 chief, who reveals how the intelligence services responded. Bill Mann, an everyday commuter who found himself caught in the chaos. Excited to watch 7/7: Hunting The London Bombers? Drop your thoughts @indiatimes.
