BBC One commissions new drama about 7/7 bombing aftermath

A Song For Jenny will explore a mother's grief

Flowers at the 7/7 memorial in Hyde Park, London (Getty)

A new factual drama exploring a mother’s response to the death of her daughter in the 7 July London bombings is to be filmed over the autumn.

A Song For Jenny, to be shown on BBC One in 2015, takes an intimate look at the life of Julie Nicholson in the aftermath of her daughter’s murder at Edgware Road Tube station on 7 July 2005.

Based on Nicholson’s book of the same name, the one-off drama is written by Frank McGuinness, with Brian Percival directing.

Emily Watson of The Book Thief is to play Nicholson, who is seen from the moment she first hears of the attacks, to receiving the news that her daughter is missing and, finally, learning that Jenny is among the dead.

Nicholson said: “Despite the poignancy of the subject, I am delighted that my memoir has inspired the re-telling of Jenny’s story for film. I believe it is in safe hands and I have long admired and respected the work of Frank McGuinness.”

Hyde Park memorial to victims of the 7 July 2005 London bombings (Getty)

Next year will mark a decade since four suicide bombers detonated explosives across central London's transport network in a co-ordinated attack that claimed 52 lives and saw 770 injured.

Three of the bombs exploded at 8.50am on Underground trains outside Liverpool Street and Edgware Road stations, and on another travelling between King’s Cross and Russell Square. One hour later a double-decker bus was exploded in Tavistock Square.

It was the greatest loss of life in a British terrorist attack since the Lockerbie bombing in 1988 and the first time British suicide bombers had targeted civilians in their own country.

BBC One controller Charlotte Moore, who commissioned the drama, added: “Ten years on, A Song For Jenny will be a fitting tribute to those who lost their lives in the tragedy of the 7/7 London bombings. But it will also be a very personal story, exploring universal themes of grief, loss and forgiveness through one mother’s struggle to reconcile her feelings with her faith.”