Network bosses in the U.K. will screen the four-part drama, titled simply Titanic, in April (12), exactly 100 years since the luxury liner sank in the Atlantic after setting sail from Southampton, England.
A team of researchers was employed to ensure the show is as accurate as possible – and Stafford-Clark reveals several anecdotes traditionally associated with the disaster will be exposed as myths.
Among the stories Stafford-Clark insists are untrue are reports the ship’s band played Nearer, My God, To Thee as the liner went down, and that a heroic seaman saved hundreds of lives by supervising panicking passengers as they clambered into lifeboats.
He also believes the famous account of first officer William Murdoch’s dog saving lives by barking to alert a nearby ship to the location of lifeboats is false, telling the March (12) issue of Reader’s Digest, “Unfortunately, it’s a great tale without any basis in fact. There’s no evidence that Murdoch even had a dog on board.”
