The four-part series explores the most infamous 160 minutes in maritime history
A new dramatised documentary made in Northern Ireland about the sinking of the ‘world’s most famous ship’ is coming to screens this Christmas.
‘ Titanic Sinks Tonight ‘ pieces together the events, minute by minute, to reveal exactly what happened to the 2,208 passengers and crew on the night of April 14 – from the crucial seconds before the ship hit the iceberg, to the final moments when the hull sank beneath the waves.
Airing on BBC Two and iPlayer from December 28, the four-part series explores the most infamous 160 minutes in maritime history as they unfold.
READ MORE: Co Down Olympian Philip Doyle to swap rowing for waltzing on Dancing with the StarsREAD MORE: Staff at M&S Craigavon to become stars of the screen in behind-the-scenes documentary
Having pieced together a vast archive of letters, interviews, memoirs and the accounts of public enquiries, the programme-makers have cast actors who resemble the survivors to recreate their eyewitness testimony.
A spokesperson said: “Nothing is invented, there are no ‘composite characters’, just the real words and memories of Titanic passengers and crew, revealing what it was like to be there that night.
“On Sunday 14 April, Titanic was five days into her maiden voyage to New York, sailing with 2,208 passengers and crew onboard. She was the largest ship the world had ever seen.
“As most passengers prepared for bed, a message was received from a ship 20 miles ahead, warning that they were surrounded by ice and had stopped for the night. At 11.40pm, Titanic hit an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean. The collision didn’t cause immediate concern as those onboard believe the ship was designed to be unsinkable.”
Expert contributors, including presenter and ex-marine JJ Chalmers, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb, Admiral Lord West and novelist Nadifa Mohame,d provide analysis and fresh insight into the events.
The first episode follows the White Star liner’s journey across the cold Atlantic waters on its route to New York. As news of the damage filtered through to the Captain that two, then three, then four of the ship’s watertight compartments have been breached, he realised his ‘unsinkable’ ship might be going under.
The ship’s lauded designer, Thomas Andrews, then discovered the unthinkable, that a fifth compartment had been breached. Titanic would have just 117 minutes before she sank.
As the series continues, its captures the evacuation of the passengers and how panic set when people started to realise there were not enough lifeboat places for everyone on board. As Titanic quickly sank and people scrambled for lifeboat spaces in the hope of rescue, the series reveals the lengths many of the survivors went to escape the sinking ship.
In the final episode, the series shows how those still on board faced their fates, before Titanic disappeared under the waves
Watch Titanic Sinks Tonight on iPlayer from Sunday 28 December and on BBC Two from Sunday 28 December at 9pm.
