AMONG the panicked relatives trying to locate loved ones in the wake of 7/7: The London Bombings (BBC2, Sundays and on iPlayer), in 2005, was the former parish priest Julie Nicholson. Her daughter, Jenny, lost her life that day when the Underground train that she was on exploded near Edgware Road (News, 5 July 2005).
This hour-by-hour forensic retelling of the terrorist attacks includes contributions from survivors, the families of victims, emergency-service personnel, police, and government officials. The recollections are shockingly frank. More than one person remarks that this was the first time that they had described a particular detail or memory.
What emerges over the course of the series are stories of unimaginable trauma, but the telling uncovers moments of bravery, previously unseen acts of courage, and a rebellious defiance, refusing evil the last word.
During the agonising wait to find out whether her daughter had survived, Ms Nicholson said that her faith wouldn’t allow her to believe otherwise; that the “human spirit needs to hope.” When the terrible news finally came, she took oil with her to the undertakers, so that she could anoint her daughter’s body. Amid the unbearably painful memories, one thought managed to penetrate: “This is why I was ordained.”
That the experience would be the final catalyst to her leaving her position as a parish priest is a deeply sad, though understandable, outcome. The burden of forgiveness was too heavy to bear.
Simon Schama’s Story of Us (BBC2, Wednesday of last week) also looks at our national past, exploring art, music, poetry, and fiction, and asking the question: what is common about our culture? I really enjoyed this dopamine hit of nostalgia, which begins with the Festival of Britain in 1951, which spawned a series of local events: I was particularly gripped by the “Shin Kicking Contest” at one of them.
Also revived in the 1960s was Christianity. The “swinging Sixties” weren’t just a time famed for sexual liberation, but were also characterised by reactionary religious fervour, orchestrated by Billy Graham — and Jesus, too, presumably. The new convert Cliff Richard openly declared his faith at one of Graham’s rallies, at Earl’s Court, in front of 19,000 believers. Afterwards, he was subjected to press mockery, which he has resisted defiantly ever since.
Exploring everything from feminist pop art to kitchen-sink dramas, Schama expresses the sentiment that, for culture to mean anything to anyone, it needs to be cherished and nourished. This is contrasted with what he calls the “polemical madness” of today’s social-media landscape — a Wild West of opinion and self-righteousness, where we are “imprisoned in identitarian tribes.” But is celebrating our culture an antidote, or is a shared culture a vain concept entirely?