WATCH: 7/7 bombings survivor recalls having his life saved by another victim

The 20th anniversary of the London bombings

With us here in the studio now is Dan Biddle. And Dan was one of the victims of the attack

And he was just, you know, within touching distance from the leading suicide bomber

And when that bomb went off, it killed six people. Yeah, and Dan appeared in the new Netflix documentary

Attack on London, hunting the 7-7 bombers. And we've got a clip of that for you right now

I could feel somebody staring at me. It was just this really unnerving feeling

It was one of those stairs where he didn't blink. He was totally fixated on what was in front of him

almost like he was staring through me. It was that intense. And then I was just about to go, like

is there a problem, mate, what you're looking at? Just went to open my mouth to say it, and I just see his hand go

And then... Now, that was 20 years ago. You were 26 at the time, Dan

What's it like seeing that and hearing yourself recount it? It's still really surreal

It's still a kind of strange thought to realise that I was right in the middle of what happened that day

And even though it's 20 years, it still feels like yesterday. Yeah. The pain and the emotional torment that goes with that

is just as fresh now as when it just happened. And when you think back to that morning, because you've written a book about that day and your experience since, you actually were considering not going into work that day

Yeah, my whole story of 7-7 is what I kind of term as sliding door moments

There's so many opportunities that were presented to me to do something different or to stick to my normal routine and not step outside of that

And, yeah, there's countless times where if I would have made a different decision

then I wouldn't have been on that train at that time. If I'd have got up on time, if I'd have missed my stop

There's so many things that I can think back on and think, if only I've done this, if only I've done that

But it serves no purpose now because what's happened has happened. You were horrendously injured, but people died on that bus that day

Yeah, I mean, from the area of the train that I was on when the bomb went off

I'm the only one that survived. They killed everybody around me. And that's incredibly tough to live with, to know that you survived something that everybody

around you didn't. And I was pretty much laying in amongst dead bodies and body parts for about

an hour and 40 minutes before I was taken out of the tunnel. And what do you remember about the murderer the suicide bomber Obviously you were about to say to him have you got a problem what are you looking at me for And he put his hand on this bomber and it exploded

That was him, he was killed, he was out of the picture with that. But what do you remember about seeing him

the man who was setting out to murder people that day? I think the most terrifying thing about it is just how calm he was

There wasn't a hesitation when he reached for the bag. When he was looking at me, it was as if he was looking through me

And it was all very calculated because he leant forward and looked along the carriage. And when I was interviewed by the anti-terrorist squad a few months later

they basically said he was looking to see where the biggest group of people were in the train

So it was a very evil, calculated act. But there was no fear, there was no hesitation

And the most scariest thing of all was he just looked like everybody else

There wasn't anything about him that I would look at. Say, he looks like a terrorist

Yeah. There was no screaming or shouting or anything like that. It was just a very calm, one action, and he was out of the picture

and I've had to live the rest of my life with the consequences of what he did. Yeah

The power from the blast, and you described this in the Netflix documentary that I was actually watching last night

you were thrown onto the tracks, weren't you? And you were saved. Tell us about that

Yeah, because I was stood up, I was stood next to the bomber. When the bomb went off, it blew me through the train door

so I basically hit the tunnel wall and then bounced back into the crawl space between the tunnel wall and the track

and I kind of landed at an angle. I thought I was going to die

I knew I was seriously injured, and I just started screaming for help

and I just heard this very deep South African accent shout back at me. He shouted, what's your name

And I didn't know if he was talking to me or somebody else, but I thought, I'm just going to answer it and hope for the best

so I shouted, it's Dan. He said, my name's Adrian, keep talking and I'll find you

So where I was kind of tunnel wall side of the track, Adrian was the other side, so the train was between us

And he had to crawl underneath the train and crawl through God knows what to come out the other side

And he was quite badly hurt as well. He had a severely lacerated head. He dislocated his shoulder and broke two ribs

So he actually put his shoulder back in place before he crawled under the train to get to me. A truly remarkable human being

And he pinched your artery, didn't he, to stop you from bleeding

Yeah, so my left leg was blown clean off and I severed the femoral artery

My right leg from the knee down had been blown around 180 degrees and the bones had snapped and come through the shin

So when Adrian found me, he basically said to me, I'm not going to lie to you, Dan, this is really going to hurt

And I thought, I've been set on fire, I know I've lost one leg. The pole that I was leaning against I pulled out of myself and you telling me this is going to hurt And he wasn wrong because he basically forced his hand into what was left of the leg found the artery and pinched it shut And the irony of all of this you going through this terrible pain and whatever

And for so many people above ground, they had no idea what was going on

because what was happening to you was concealed. And no one, it wasn't until the bus blew that people actually realised

you know, the general audience realised what was going on. Yeah, it's still something that..

When I was writing a book, I had some photographs taken outside the station to go into the book

and I was sitting in the coffee shop in the entranceway to the station

and you sit there watching people walk past and you just think you're totally oblivious to the horrors

that went on down there and the lives that were lost. And I think, for me, I just don't want it to be forgotten

I think it was such a huge event and such a tragedy. But I was going to ask you that

Do you think it has been forgotten? and, you know, people get on with their lives

life moves on, you know, how do you think we are reminding people today

but then we're all going, 20 years ago, was that 20 years ago? Because we'd forgotten

Yeah, I think if you look back over the last sort of 10 years since the 10th anniversary

it doesn't get mentioned on the news on the anniversary. No. It doesn't get mentioned in the newspapers

And I think if you look at the way that 9-11's remembered in this country

there's always something on about 9-11. and we're constantly reminded about the atrocity that happened out there

And that happened in the States. And yet when it's on our own soil, in our own country

it's almost as if somebody just wants to wipe it from the public psyche. As if all that... Let's just make sure that didn't..

We can pretend it didn't happen. For some of us, we can't. We've got to live with that day every single day of the week

And you've had to live with that day. How was the experience for you writing this book

I can imagine it's very painful but also very cathartic. Yeah, I think for me, because of the issues I've had

with complex PTSD and depression and the impact that's had on my life, I wanted to do something to kind of hopefully give a little bit of hope

and I coined the phrase turning trauma into triumph. To go from where I was 20 years ago and the horrendous state I was in

to where I am now and life isn't easy and I really do struggle with my PTSD

but I'm still here. I'm still incredibly lucky to have a chance at a life

So I wanted to write a book to hopefully, for somebody that's struggling

to read that and go, yeah, there is a way through with the right support and the right people

I can potentially come through the other side of it. You're talking there about how personally this affects you

and obviously I understand that. Do you ever think of the bigger picture, the security picture

Do you ever think that are we actually a safer country as a result of the awfulness you went through or does that not bother you No it on my mind all the time I mean after 7 me and a lot of other people

were calling for a public inquiry. We constantly have that shut down. And I think the reason I

don't think London is any safer is because we didn't have the public inquiry. And I think if

you jump forward a few years, the shooting of John Charles de Menezes had a public inquiry

The Manchester attack had a public inquiry. Grenfell had a public inquiry. All were absolutely warranted and deserved it

7-7 was the first attack of its kind in this country. It was the biggest loss of life in a terrorist attack

It was the first suicide attack. And there were clear failings. Yet no public inquiry

So nobody has ever been out to turn around and say to me, 7-7 doesn't meet the criteria for a public inquiry

but these do, and this is where the difference is. What do you think the failings were

I think they know that the intelligence services and the government made a horrendous mistake

I think the naivety and the arrogance of Tony Blair to think that you can go to war in a Middle Eastern country

and it not have any repercussions on home soil. I think the fact that when Blair was interviewed

he turned around and said that there is no link between al-Qaeda and the 7-7 attacks

yet when Khan made his suicide video, he openly states that that is the reason

So you kind of get lied to constantly, and I think that the hope is

that you just start believing the lies. Well, some of us won't. Well, Dan Biddle, thank you so much for coming into the studio

and talking about your incident. It is just... It's fascinating listening to you

and all that you went through. And, you know, it brings me back to where I was

I was on holiday and I was watching this on satellite television

and gripped me and you just couldn't leave the television set, just wondering what was happening next

where the next explosion was going to be and whatever. And yet it was like yesterday

that particular day. Do you think your life stopped that day or have you been happy enough and successful enough

to push things over? The way I've had to deal with it is the Dan Biddle

that I was at 8.52 on the 7th of July 2005 died at 8.52 on the 7th of July 2005

And I've had to reinvent myself and everything that I was trained to do work-wise

I can no longer do. So I've had to kind of start afresh and I've been incredibly lucky that my wife, Gem

is an amazing supporter and gets me through so much of it. Well, listen, you're an absolute credit

and it's really interesting talking to you and hearing all that you have to say

Continue to get well, continue to get better. Thank you very much. Thank you very much

And this is the book here, Back from the Dead, the untold story of the 7-7 bombings