Hollywood's Titanic got it all wrong, says Julian Fellowes as he attacks film's factual inaccuracies (MAIL ON LINE)

By ALASDAIR GLENNIE
PUBLISHED: 19:16 EST, 19 March 2012 |
UPDATED: 19:36 EST, 19 March 2012

Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes has attacked James Cameron’s blockbuster movie Titanic for its factual inaccuracies. He says that his own four-part TV mini series about the 1912 disaster will ‘set the record straight’. In an interview with the Radio Times, the 62-year-old said the 1997 Hollywood film unfairly vilified the ship’s first officer, William Murdoch, as a coward.

In the film, Murdoch – played by actor Ewan Stewart – is seen shooting terrified passengers before taking his own life. But Lord Fellowes said: ‘That was very unfair how Murdoch was depicted. He wasn’t cowardly. He fired the pistol to stop a potential riot.

READ MORE:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2117398/Downton-Abbey-creator-Julian-Fellowes-attacks-Titanic-blockbusters-factual-inaccuracies.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Julian Fellowes new miniseries - Titanic (TORONTO SUN)

So here we are with a new version of Titanic, this one an international television co-production between Global in Canada, ITV in Britain and ABC in the U.S. We all know what happens in the end. But is there anything new to say? The answer: No, and then yes. Written by Oscar and Emmy winner Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park, Downton Abbey), Titanic is told through the eyes of characters ranging from upper-class guests -- a couple of them played in notable fashion by Linus Roache and Geraldine Somerville -- to those poor souls stranded in steerage. Each of the four episodes culminates in a cliff-hanger as the ship falters, building to a conclusion that draws all the stories together, and reveals who survives, and who doesn't. It's an interesting structure. But it really would have helped had we known about it before sitting down to watch.


READ MORE:  http://www.torontosun.com/2012/03/16/titanic-rises-with-mini-series