Following the Downton Abbey Christmas special which aired today on ITV was a trailer for creator Julian Fellowes’ new series, Titanic, a dramatic retelling of the sinking of the ship. The four-part mini-series will mark 100 years since the ship sank after hitting an iceberg on her maiden voyage to New York. Due April next year, the series looks very much like “Downton at sea” in this trailer. Fellowes has expressed his intention to produce the most comprehensive view yet of life aboard the doomed liner, explaining to the Observer, “In all previous films, the emphasis has been on the first-class and steerage. We have a very strong storyline about second-class, the forgotten bit in the sandwich. We actually get to know some boilermen, Italian waiters and ordinary crewmen. On television, you’ve got space to develop them all.” James Cameron’s record-breaking, melodramatic and soon-to-be-3D 1997 film Titanic is obviously most people’s point of reference, but Fellowes is thankfully not interested in equalling that film’s special effects. “So it is a more human look at the picture. One of the great advantages of television is that you have much more time. You can develop these other characters that would probably be [condensed] … and discarded if you were having to fit into the 100-minute format.” Titanic stars Celia Imrie, Toby Jones, Geraldine Somerville, Sophie Winkleman, Timothy West and Downton star Maria Doyle Kennedy. Whether or not this series ends up being anything more than “Downton at sea” remains to be seen, but I’m certainly more interested in watching Fellowes version of Titanic next year over Cameron’s unnecessary 3D re-release of a technically-impressive but otherwise awful film.
