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Titanic miniseries for 100th anniversary

ITV Studios will produce a major television miniseries, Titanic, set to air in the UK, USA and in Australia on Seven next year

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ITV Studios will produce a major television miniseries, Titanic, set to air in the UK, USA and several territories, and in Australia via Seven next year.

The event is scheduled to coincide with the centenary of its tragedy, which takes place on 14th April 1912.

Written by Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey, Gosford Park), it will air as a 2 x 90 minute and 4 x 1 hour mini series. Produced by Nigel Stafford-Clark (Bleak House, Warriors, The Way We Live Now) and Chris Thompson (Love Actually, No 1 Ladies Detective Agency), it will film in Hungary.

According to its Press Release, the miniseries will focus on different characters “ranging from steerage passengers to upper class guests. Each point of view will culminate in a cliff hanger as the ship begins to founder, building to an explosive conclusion which draws together each of the stories.”

Maria Kyriacou, Managing Director at ITV Studios said, “Providing a vividly different experience of the ship’s last hours alongside a definitive snapshot of what was a unique and uncertain moment in history – Titanic promises to be the must-see original drama for this landmark centenary anniversary and gripping primetime content for audiences around the world.”

Source: ITV

18 Responses

  1. As the 100th anniversary nears, it does seem as if there isn’t much more to tell. However, I just finished reading a recently released book called The Band That Played On, about the 8 brave musicians who gave their lives by playing music to keep people calm while the Titanic was sinking. Here’s a link to the Amazon page, if you’re interested: dld.bz/SM8u. I don’t believe their stories have been told before, and it will be interesting to see if they are included in the new television series.

  2. @ John — I agree that my choice of “definitive” was inaccurate considering that, yes, Cameron’s version had a huge dose of fiction in it. Perhaps “stunning” and “awesome” would have been better adjectives to describe how I felt about that particular version. 🙂

    I’m looking forward to chasing up some of the other versions mentioned here.

  5. I hope the mini series is more factually accurate than James Cameron’s glamourised version of events. As others have said, A Night to Remember is te best film adaptation to date. It’s also largely considered to be the most accurate portrayal of the real event.

  7. James Camerons definitive version?Hardly.Apart from the obvious it was a work of fiction & did not focus on the real day to day life onboard.
    There are many versions of this always fascinating story & this production will no doubt attract a huge audience.
    My personal fave version is the 1953 version with Barbara Stanwyck but then i am a little biased when it comes to the wonderful BS.
    The british version with Kenneth More made in 1958 is also very enjoyable.
    But again are not definitive although the british one would win hands down as far as the storyline goes..
    A dream would be a remake of the dreadful but curious 1980 Raise The Titanic.
    Pure indulgence.

  8. I shall totally watch it, but (as others have said) nothing can match James Cameron’s version of events. He made that film as the pinnacle of historical accuracy in terms of how the ship went down. It wont ever be topped.

    and in relation to the people on the ship, ANTR does a pretty good job depicting them properly as well.

    so i dont think this new tv series can give a new spin on stuff that has already been done quite perfectly in these 2 films.

  9. @ Dan– Thanks for the recommendation re. the Walter Lords’ version of Titanic. I haven’t seen the movie but have just looked it up on IMDb, where it got excellent reviews.

    I’m going to order the DVD of A Night to Remember from Amazon UK. I know it’s only black and white, and I’ll have to watch it on TV rather than a movie screen, but it nevertheless sounds like an interesting perspective to the whole story.

  11. @Neon Kitten — I totally agree with you re. all the “3D” movies that have been converted from their original 2D state. They look awful!

    However, Cameron says that his reworked Titanic in 3D will be far superior to all these other converted 2D movies. I’m not sure if he can actually perform the transformation as well as he claims he will. Maybe he’s just hyping his 3D Titanic, knowing there will be suckers like me who’ll pay money to see it anyway. 🙂

    Even if his “new” version doesn’t work very well, he’ll probably make another fortune from it, anyway.

  12. I think it will be interesting if they can do it from a ‘people’s’ perspective. I would like to see them investigate what happened to people after the event (a lot of rich people died, so what happened to their ’empires’ etc). Also I am not sure the steerage passengers have really ever been documented in this way.

  13. @Phoenix: James Cameron’s “Titanic” was filmed in 2D. They accnot change that fact. Any 3D re-release would be a cheap cash-in produced with the same crappy “conversion” process that’s the reason why 99% of so-called “3D” movies look like a bad acid trip.

  15. Written by Fellows it should be a million times better than Cameron’s overrated film. The Upstairs/Downstairs life that would of existed on the ship is perfect for him.

  18. Why are they bothering when the definitive movie of Titanic has already been made? It’ll be almost impossible to top the grand scale of the James Cameron production.

    This new mini-series will be butchered by ads, and since it’ll be shown on TV it won’t have anywhere near the impact of a huge movie screen (ad-free).

    I’m more interested in seeing the 3D version of Cameron’s Titanic next April, which he’ll be releasing to coincide with the 100th anniversary.

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