“Inside
the Titanic. An ambitious factual drama that reveals moment by moment
exactly how the Titanic sank, telling the untold stories of the
engineers and stokers who battled the icy water.”
If television companies plan to show programmes under the description of factual drama, they should at least ensure that the factual content of the presentation are accurate. Last nights (22nd March 2012) offering over 2 hours on Channel 5, was full of fabrication and historical inaccuracies from start to finish.
Titanic carried a total of 20 lifeboats not 16 as stated in the programme. It was the Board of Trade regulations which stated that vessels over 10,000 tons must carry that number (together with rafts and floats for 75% of the lifeboats) which had nothing to do with the number of water tight compartments. The orders given by First Officer Murdoch (after the lookouts sighted the iceberg) were “Hard a'starboard”, “Full a'stern” “Close water tight doors” “Hard a'port”. Captain Smith ordered “All stop” when he came onto the bridge shortly after the collision.
Carpathia first received Titanic's distress call at 11 minutes past midnight and arrived at the scene at 04:00. Not the 10 hours away as the narrator suggested. The portrayal of the main characters of the disaster, Captain Smith, Bruce Ismay, and not least of all Thomas Andrews was awful. As the leader of the Guarantee Group (and designer of the ship) Andrews was involved in the damage assesement at a very early stage. This point was completely glossed over.
The list of glaring errors and omissions is almost endless. If programme makers seek to tell a true story they should at least get their facts right. All in all, 2 hours of fabricated rubbish.
If television companies plan to show programmes under the description of factual drama, they should at least ensure that the factual content of the presentation are accurate. Last nights (22nd March 2012) offering over 2 hours on Channel 5, was full of fabrication and historical inaccuracies from start to finish.
Titanic carried a total of 20 lifeboats not 16 as stated in the programme. It was the Board of Trade regulations which stated that vessels over 10,000 tons must carry that number (together with rafts and floats for 75% of the lifeboats) which had nothing to do with the number of water tight compartments. The orders given by First Officer Murdoch (after the lookouts sighted the iceberg) were “Hard a'starboard”, “Full a'stern” “Close water tight doors” “Hard a'port”. Captain Smith ordered “All stop” when he came onto the bridge shortly after the collision.
Carpathia first received Titanic's distress call at 11 minutes past midnight and arrived at the scene at 04:00. Not the 10 hours away as the narrator suggested. The portrayal of the main characters of the disaster, Captain Smith, Bruce Ismay, and not least of all Thomas Andrews was awful. As the leader of the Guarantee Group (and designer of the ship) Andrews was involved in the damage assesement at a very early stage. This point was completely glossed over.
The list of glaring errors and omissions is almost endless. If programme makers seek to tell a true story they should at least get their facts right. All in all, 2 hours of fabricated rubbish.
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