Titanic’s final hours to be brought to life in new BBC four-part series
Belfast-based Stellify Media is making the four-part series for the BBC, showing for the first time the terrifying final hours of the 2,240 passengers on the doomed liner
Belfast-based Stellify Media is making the four-part series for the BBC, showing for the first time the terrifying final hours of the 2,240 passengers on the doomed liner.The Titanic, built in Belfast by Harland & Wolff, sank on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic in April 1912 after hitting an iceberg.The new docu-drama will take viewers from the crucial seconds just before the liner hit an iceberg to the moment it sank beneath the waves, taking 1,503 passengers to their deaths.It will start the clock just after 11pm when the ship’s radio operators received, and ignored, the sixth iceberg warning of the night. By 2.20am the ship had descended to the sea floor, its huge hull snapped in two.The production team has combed through hundreds of survivor accounts, and uses the testimony of eyewitnesses to create a timeline. Its exhaustive research includes letters, telegrams, newspaper and radio interviews, memoirs, and the US and UK public inquiries into the disaster.Titanic Sinks Tonight posterThe experience of the passengers will be recreated by Studio Ulster, the new virtual production complex which is part of Belfast Harbour Studios. Stellify, whose programmes include Who Wants to Be a Millionaire with Jeremy Clarkson and Blind Date Ireland, has given the series the working title Titanic Sinks Tonight.It’s co-founder Kieran Doherty has paid tribute to backers including BBC Specialist Factual, BBC NI and NI Screen.“Docu-drama is an exciting new space for Stellify, and we feel privileged to be working in it,” he says.“Titanic Sinks Tonight is an ambitious retelling of a story rooted in Belfast, and we are very proud to be the Belfast company telling it.”The story of the doomed liner has provided the basis for countless documentaries and dramas, however none have given a real-time account of its final hours based on eyewitness accounts.More than a dozen films have been made about the sinking. The first, a silent short film, Saved from the Titanic, was released just 29 days after the disaster, based on the testimony of survivor Dorothy Gibson, an American actress.The most famous film is James Cameron’s 1997 $200 million epic, Titanic, starring Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio which won 11 Oscars including Best Picture.Actors Leonardo DiCaprio (L) and Kate Winslet (R) in a scene from the movie "Titanic". Photo: AFPEddie Doyle, Head of Commissioning at BBC Northern Ireland, says the new series is an ambitious retelling of the ship’s story which will give “new insight and understanding to the final hours of the ill-fated Titanic”.“Co-commissioning this series with our colleagues in BBC network television, means that a story that essentially started in Belfast will be told comprehensively — and sensitively — by a Belfast company and then broadcast to audiences across the UK and beyond,” he says.“And with support from Northern Ireland Screen, it is sure to be visually arresting, using the latest state-of-the-art technology to tell the story in an engaging way for our audiences.”Studio Ulster boss Declan Keeney says the series will also show off the new facilities which are part of a £72 million expansion of Belfast Harbour Studios.“This project showcases our advanced virtual production capabilities, right in the harbour where the iconic liner was built.“The BBC’s use of real-time technologies here is a strong endorsement of our innovation.“Collaborating with Stellify, a home-grown Northern Irish company, we are set to bring this story to life with cutting-edge technology. This landmark project redefines docu-drama filmmaking and highlights Belfast’s capability to deliver world-class productions on the global stage,” says Declan.The programmes are expected to be aired next year.
