[boogie woogie]

I know that it is months before this new Julian Fellowes drama goes to air but I think that it would be good to get some discussion going on around this show as it's marking the centenary of the disaster. It has definitely grabbed my interest as it boasts an impressive cast- Linus Roache (Law & Order, Batman Begins), Geraldine Somerville (The Harry Potter films, Survivors) Celia Imrie (Bridget Jones’ Diary, Kingdom), Toby Jones (Captain America, W.), Perdita Weeks (The Promise, Four Seasons), Lee Ross (Centurion, EastEnders), Jenna- Louise Coleman (Waterloo Road, Emmerdale), Sophie Winkleman (Peep Show, The Palace), Steven Waddington (Sleepy Hollow, The Tudors), James Wilby (Gosford Park, Clapham Junction), Lyndsey Marshal (Hereafter; Being Human; Rome), Mark Lewis Jones (Robin Hood; The Other Boleyn Girl; Troy), Ruth Bradley (Primeval, Love/Hate) and Peter MacDonald (The Damned United; City Of Vice). The trailer looks suitably epic and I like the fact that the narrative is looking at several different plot strands involving several disparate groups of people from different social classes. The potential for some gripping drama is there and I'm just hoping that it materialises when the drama hits our screens in April.

[kegsie]

I'm expecting it to be terrible.

I can't wait for the inevitable live commentary thread on here tearing it to shreds.

Actually if it turns out to be good I'll be quite disappointed

[gomezz]

I have learnt that seeing JF as writer is as big a warning to me as they come to tell me not to bother watching.

I expect this to be Downton Abbey on the Rocks.

[Kapellmeister]

I saw a trailer and it looked awful, I mean really terrible, like the most blatant rip-off of the film i.e. really corny, really melodramatic and full of bad acting. I might watch it for a laugh but not for any other reason.

[hopeandfaith06]

Are people just slating it because 1. this is DS and thats what people have to do... and 2. its an ITV drama so it must automatically be awful even though ITV produces some amazing drama?!

I'm looking forward to it myself.

[iShum]

I'm really looking forward to it

[Belligerence]

I will look forward to this.

[woot_whoo]

Originally Posted by Kapellmeister

I saw a trailer and it looked awful, I mean really terrible, like the most blatant rip-off of the film i.e. really corny, really melodramatic and full of bad acting. I might watch it for a laugh but not for any other reason.

The trailer was awful, wasn't it? Very cheap looking. I can forgive that because I imagine that when it was made, the effects were still at an early stage of production. However, I am incredibly disappointed to see that they appear to be including scenes of third class passengers locked below decks behind steel gates (as in the 1996 movie). This has been pretty much rubbished by historians - steerage passengers may have been left in some confusion, but they were NOT trapped below decks like animals left to drown. It makes me wonder what other highly questionable cliches they're going to peddle as true - gun-toting officers, a love story between classes, a yippie-yi-yo-ki-yay Margaret Brown (who will call herself Molly, despite the fact the real Margaret never did), a boozing chief baker, a dastardly J. Bruce Ismay, a man dressed as a woman in a lifeboat or some reference to Titanic being thought of as unsinkable?

[Billy_Value]

i hope theres an happy ending

[Kapellmeister]

Originally Posted by woot_whoo

It makes me wonder what other highly questionable cliches they're going to peddle as true - gun-toting officers, a love story between classes, a yippie-yi-yo-ki-yay Margaret Brown (who will call herself Molly, despite the fact the real Margaret never did), a boozing chief baker, a dastardly J. Bruce Ismay, a man dressed as a woman in a lifeboat or some reference to Titanic being thought of as unsinkable?

Exactly! It looked stuffed with the exact same cliches which made James Cameron's movie such excrement. The bit in the trailer with the third-class passengers trapped behind a door made me LOL and roll my eyes all at the same time. It looks utter rubbish!

[boogie woogie]

Originally Posted by hopeandfaith06

Are people just slating it because 1. this is DS and thats what people have to do... and 2. its an ITV drama so it must automatically be awful even though ITV produces some amazing drama?!

I'm looking forward to it myself.

Couldn't agree more...ITV has quite a good record when it comes to quality drama-
Unforgiven
Collision
Bouquet of Barbed Wire
Marchlands
Place of Execution
The Children
Whitechapel

[woot_whoo]

Originally Posted by Kapellmeister

Exactly! It looked stuffed with the exact same cliches which made James Cameron's movie such excrement. The bit in the trailer with the third-class passengers trapped behind a door made me LOL and roll my eyes all at the same time. It looks utter rubbish!

It's funny, but despite its 50s effects and occasional historical slip-ups, A Night to Remember still trumps every Titanic movie that has come since. It made only sparing use of fictional characters (and even then, some were proxies or amalgamations of real people), it stuck rigidly to the drama inherent in the sinking (rather than focusing on a silly love story) and it accurately depicted the period and subtle class distinctions of 1912. Furthermore, it avoided cliches like a catatonic Captain Smith, a grasping and ambitious Ismay and gangs of women and children barricaded below decks. Instead, it adhered in the main to Walter Lord's excellent (if now outdated) non-fiction book on the subject, which portrayed a decisive if increasingly incredulous Smith, a jocular if excitable Ismay and a third class which were misinformed by a poorly organised crew, but met only locked doors when they got lost wandering the ship in confusion.

[hooter]

I think I know the ending...not a good one

[Digital Sid]

Originally Posted by hopeandfaith06

Are people just slating it because 1. this is DS and thats what people have to do... and 2. its an ITV drama so it must automatically be awful even though ITV produces some amazing drama?!

I'm looking forward to it myself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh_T09NmiAY

[ardmajell55]

Originally Posted by hooter

I think I know the ending...not a good one

The Titanic. Made in Belfast; a failure before it set sail from a slum of a shipyard that, like the abortion of a statelet, [N ireland] that grew from it and embodied at source the pure hotbed of evil sectarian hatred that it carried on for nearly a hundred years. There's nothing to be proud of or celebrate in the Titanic or the sewer of a city it emerged from.

[performingmonk]

Originally Posted by ardmajell55

The Titanic. Made in Belfast; a failure before it set sail from a slum of a shipyard that, like the abortion of a statelet, [N ireland] that grew from it and embodied at source the pure hotbed of evil sectarian hatred that it carried on for nearly a hundred years. There's nothing to be proud of or celebrate in the Titanic or the sewer of a city it emerged from.

......which was nice!

[LIZALYNN]

There are many many films about the Titanic disaster. My favourite is "A Night To Remember" (1958.)
The most interesting aspect was the women and children first bravery of those men aboard the ship. Would this still happen in this day and age? I wonder.

[woot_whoo]

Originally Posted by LIZALYNN

There are many many films about the Titanic disaster. My favourite is "A Night To Remember" (1958.)
The most interesting aspect was the women and children first bravery of those men aboard the ship. Would this still happen in this day and age? I wonder.

Don't forget the scene in A Night to Remember in which Edith Evans, on reaching a lifeboat with only one space left, tells another woman to take the seat 'because she has children waiting at home'. It was the last lifeboat. The scene is factual, and Mrs Evans' body was never found.

It is wrong to assume that bravery is a gendered construct. There are brave men and women just as there are 'cowardly' men and women, and who knows how anyone would react when faced with a dreadful death. As to 'women and children first', it is no longer sea-going practice, as far as I know.

[kegsie]

Originally Posted by LIZALYNN

There are many many films about the Titanic disaster. My favourite is "A Night To Remember" (1958.)
The most interesting aspect was the women and children first bravery of those men aboard the ship. Would this still happen in this day and age? I wonder.

God no. I'd probably lash some women and children together to form some kind of rudimentary raft.

[Glengavel]

Originally Posted by ardmajell55

The Titanic. Made in Belfast; a failure before it set sail from a slum of a shipyard that, like the abortion of a statelet, [N ireland] that grew from it and embodied at source the pure hotbed of evil sectarian hatred that it carried on for nearly a hundred years. There's nothing to be proud of or celebrate in the Titanic or the sewer of a city it emerged from.

"Evil sectarian hatred" works both ways you know.

[bookishlaura]

I'm looking forward to it not just because Julian Fellowes has written in but because I love the period. We all know the ending but for me its about the people on the ship and the officers that matter. The tv film SOS Titanic did that really well. Also its a bit of local pride one of the officers was from where I live. 4th Officer Boxhall. I wonder if James and Patrick Crawley will get a quick mention somewhere in passing.

[Creamtea]

I'm interested in everything Titanic. I'm going to try and watch this with an open mind but I have a feeling, as other posters have mentioned, that it will be inaccurately cliché ridden. Best not to get too excited about it, then I won't be disappointed if it's awful and will be pleasantly surprised if its good. Maybe we could start a list of Titanic cliches as another poster started to do. It could go on for pages!!!

[woot_whoo]

Originally Posted by Creamtea

I'm interested in everything Titanic. I'm going to try and watch this with an open mind but I have a feeling, as other posters have mentioned, that it will be inaccurately cliché ridden. Best not to get too excited about it, then I won't be disappointed if it's awful and will be pleasantly surprised if its good. Maybe we could start a list of Titanic cliches as another poster started to do. It could go on for pages!!!

Indeed - and I can confirm that at least one of those I mentioned earlier (aside from the steerage passengers locked below decks) is definitely making yet another appearance in this production. An actress called Linda Cash will be playing 'Molly' Brown. Apparently the writer either does not know or does not think any viewers will know that Margaret Brown wasn't labelled 'Molly' until a musical was made about her in the 60s!

[R.Vecchio]

No spoilers in here please.

[boogie woogie]

Originally Posted by woot_whoo

Indeed - and I can confirm that at least one of those I mentioned earlier (aside from the steerage passengers locked below decks) is definitely making yet another appearance in this production. An actress called Linda Cash will be playing 'Molly' Brown. Apparently the writer either does not know or does not think any viewers will know that Margaret Brown wasn't labelled 'Molly' until a musical was made about her in the 60s!

I must admit that I really wish they had omitted the Molly Brown stereotype but who knows- maybe in this version she'll prove to be a more dignified presence!