TV

Building the RMS Titanic For the ABC Miniseries Titanic

Check out footage of ABC rebuilding the Titanic for its four-hour miniseries Titanic

By Andrea Reiher /

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Titanic at the docks of Southampton

In commemoration of the Titanic’s 100-year anniversary, ABC has set out to recreate the voyage of the famous ship

As part of the 100-year anniversary of the ill-fated voyage of the RMS Titanic, Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes created Titanic, a four-hour miniseries which aired in the U.K. and Canada in late March and which premieres in the U.S. Saturday, April 14, the day in 1912 that the liner hit the iceberg, sinking several hours later on April 15.

In the below featurette, production designer Rob Harris details how this production built the sets that represented the almost 900-foot-long ship. Director Jon Jones adds that they tried to be as accurate as possible.

“The principle of this project, in terms of its look, was to be as accurate as we could within the confines of what was available to us. The designer, Rob Harris, built as much boat as he possibly could. And built with as much correct detail as he could,” says Jones.

“We did want it to be a completely believable, real account of what this ship was like, and what being on board it was like and what it wa slike when it started to go down. And for that, you must get the details right,” says Fellowes.

Titanic premieres Saturday, April 14 at 8 p.m. ET/PT and concludes Sunday, April 15 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.