Titanic (2012)

The Titanic is about to be raised … again.

Nigel Stafford-Clark, (producer of Bleak House, He Knew He Was Right and The Way We Live Now) and screenwriter Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park, The Young Victoria, Downton Abbey) are preparing a miniseries of the Titanic for 2012, the 100th anniversary of its sinking.

The story of the sinking of the Titanic has been re-told many times but Stafford-Clark said: 'We have found a way to re-tell the story that is bold, fresh and gripping, with the human detail that television does so well.'

From Variety:

ITV Studios, the production arm of Blighty's commercial net, is steaming ahead with a four-part £10 million ($15.4 million) miniseries about the tragic vessel.
On board as co-producers are CanWest Global in

Canada and TV3 in Ireland. Also helping to power the venture are Simon Vaughan's Lookout Point, Nigel Stafford-Clark's Deep Indigo Prods. and Canada's Sienna Films.

News follows July's announcement that Italy's DeAngelis Group is developing "Titanic: The Untold Story of How it All Began," a $28 million TV miniseries (Variety, July 15).

Vaughan said most of the coin for the ITV project is in place but at least one more partner is needed before pre-production can start in January. It's due to air on ITV in April 2012 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.

He said, "A project of this scale can only be produced with the support of the international markets. A U.S. or a European partner, perhaps from Germany or Italy, would be great. I'll be in Mipcom next month talking to potential co-producers."

Scripted by Julian Fellowes and produced by Stafford-Clark, much heralded for his 2005 serialization of "Bleak House" for the BBC, the as-yet untitled miniseries is the first ITV Studios show ordered by the company's new managing director, Kevin Lygo. He said: "The Titanic is undoubtedly the most famous ship in history. It's our objective to produce the definitive drama for this landmark anniversary and continue to propel the fascination that surrounds the Titanic's maiden and final voyage."

Excerpt from the Telegraph: Titanic drama will show that the English were not all villains

James Cameron's Hollywood blockbuster Titanic may be one of the most successful films of all time, but it left viewers with the impression that the English on board were either knaves or fools.

Now, ITV hopes to salvage the reputation of the English with a drama to be screened on the centenary of the ship's sinking in two years' time.

Fellowes, who won an Oscar for his screenplay for Gosford Park, adds: "Ours is more of a tale of the people on board told from the perspective of the different classes and the crew. We are using real characters and fictional characters, but we develop the real as much as the fictional."