Titanic

Tale of the Titanic disaster in four parts. The first three tell the same basic story but through the eyes of passengers in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class (steerage). The story lines overlap and all meet in the same disastrous finale: the sinking of the ship.

Although there are no big names in the cast, several are familiar faces (Maria Doyle Kennedy, Linus Roache, Toby Jones, Steven Waddington, Stephen Campbell Moore, Celia Imrie, James Wilby, Linda Kash).

To my knowledge this is the only "Titanic" story that has included the real-life Dorothy Gibson (played by Sophie Winkleman), an American movie actress, who survived the disaster. Back in the US, she was rushed into "Saved from the Titanic" within a month of the sinking. She played herself, recounting the disaster, but was so overcome by grief, she suffered a nervous breakdown during the filming and retired from acting. The 1912 film was an absolute sensation, one of the biggest hits of the time. The film was tragically lost in a 1914 studio fire.

I've read several reviews of Julian Fellowes' Titanic, and I agree with comments about the choppy, confusing editing (I'm sure there was a point to it, but I kept thinking I had started with the wrong episode, or in the middel of one...) I also agree with those that found the cast to be lacking in chemistry or real emotion. But what bothered me most about this version was that there was absolutely no sense of the arctic, icy cold. Nobody breathed vapor. Nobody froze to death -- EVRYBODY that went into the water drowned? Really? That sounds like (yet another) glaring historical inaccuracy. There was no mention of the cold throughout the "sinking scenes" except for one character mentioned she'd rather freeze than deal with "those people." There was no ice anywhere except the CGI iceberg. This version could have been set in a lukewarm summer lake, for all the impression of cold it produced. (And okay, maybe James Cameron put a little TOO much emphasis on clouds of vapor and frozen hair, but at least you FELT how cold it was!) If the point of this version was to make us feel the total experience of this tragedy, it missed by an artic ocean. Pun intended.

If you compare this four hour TV mini-series to the twelve hour "Titanic: Blood and Steel" series, which also came out in 2012, then this shorter series is more enjoyable. And even with a much smaller budget, they accomplished a much more captivating and entertaining series. And one that is not actually a drag to sit through.

The 2012 "Titanic" series focus on the ship and the stories of the passengers, which is what the audience wants to see. Unlike the twelve hours series of political drama and shipyard problems.

The acting in this series was good and they had some good talents on the cast list.

I will say that the practical effects and special effects team managed to pull off the effects quite amazingly. And the visuals do play a big part in a drama about the Titanic.

The costume and props department also did their job quite well, fleshing out the atmosphere nicely.

If you have an interest in the Titanic then you should take the time to sit down and watch this 2012 TV mini-series, because it is actually quite entertaining and good.

I'm quite an avid Titanic enthusiast. Not as big a buff as I used to be, but I could probably still teach a couple of things. I wasn't expecting great things of this title (I have issues regarding things made by ITV), but as its the 100th anniversary coming up, I felt I should give this a watch, without trying to get to excited (although admittedly, I was really looking forward to watching it).

So far, I've only seen two episodes, and I have to say, while they aren't perfect, I feel that they are a good watch for a casual enthusiast of Titanic. Let me just touch on a couple of bad points.

Now, I don't know as much as a lot of people about the ship, but it does have some errors in historical accuracy, although reviewing from my perspective as somebody who knows a fair bit, but not a massive amount (or somebody, like me, who used to know, but is too stupid to remember...), I can say that you won't notice anything so bad that will ruin it for you, even though looking at the forums, some people seem to have taken great offence to this.

My main gripe with these episodes is that they are very rushed. A lot of effort has gone into the writing, but really I think there is too much going on and in such a short space of time to fit it in. While it was an interesting, if ambitious attempt at telling the story, I have to admit, I think that it would have worked better by going through in order, rather than chopping and changing the main characters every episode (although I have to say, it's nice they aren't doing a Cameron and just focusing on a couple of people). I'm hoping for the final chapter to be tighter.

Apart from the above, I really enjoyed watching the first two episodes and will be recording the final two as well. I'd really recommend this to someone like myself, it has some interesting characters and plots, and hopefully will be soon setting up to be an entertaining and engaging finale.

I have just finished a rewatch of this tv series.

My experience with it started when it was first broadcast in 2012 and I enjoyed it that much that I got it on dvd.

I then watched it several more times before it got left at the back of my dvd collection and subsequently forgotten about until now.

Dusting it off after all these years. It still holds up.

Yeah as with any Titanic related media one has to take it with a pinch of salt.

While not entirely accurate and at times it does contradict the testimony of survivors.

It is still well made. Great story. Hits all the right notes and leaves you feeling emotionally drained at the end.

It's entertaining enough with a well known bit of history as the backdrop for this tv show.

Good casting too.

Set design is alright. Parts of it are right and some aren't.

Being from the same writer as one would expect it's Downton Abbey on the Titanic.

I'd recommend it highly.