Two people – one a victim of terror, the other a survivor of war – search for the individuals who changed their lives in BBC Two’s profoundly affecting new series
If anyone is left with lingering feelings of misanthropy after another shameless week in British politics, then I can recommend Saved by a Stranger (BBC Two) as a wonderful antidote. This brand new series, hosted by Anita Rani, is an elegant hybrid of ITV’s Long Lost Family, BBC One’s Who Do You Think You Are? and Radio 4’s The Reunion, and it shows the best of human nature, often emerging from the ruins of the worst of it. The series tells the stories of people caught up in the biggest events in recent history, and attempts to reunite them with a figure they believe helped save their lives.
The opening episode skilfully weaves together two very different, very moving stories. Karl was a 23-year-old dancer when he got on a packed tube train at King’s Cross station in 2005. A bomb exploded in his carriage just moments after the train left the platform. Rani carefully lets Karl tell her what happened that morning. Reliving it, 15 years on, is clearly traumatic for him and his meticulous account of the event gave me goosebumps. He tells it bravely and beautifully, from the odd, irrational acts that can happen during moments of great shock – after the explosion, he asked if anyone had seen his iPod – to the complexities of survivor’s guilt. He was only four or five seats away from where the bomb detonated, and 26 people died in his carriage. He walked out of Warren Street station uninjured, although not unscathed.
