What is Titanic Sinks Tonight?
Titanic Sinks Tonight is a new four-part docudrama from the BBC that recreates the 1912 sinking of RMS Titanic. The programme’s makers have pieced together the many accounts of the disaster and the story is told through reenactments, featuring only the actual words of those who were there. Experts including presenter and ex-marine JJ Chalmers, historian Suzannah Lipscomb, Admiral Lord West and novelist Nadifa Mohamed will also give their commentary on events.
When is Titanic Sinks Tonight on TV?
Titanic Sinks Tonight will air on BBC Two at 9pm over four consecutive nights from Sunday 28 December 2025 to Wednesday 31 December 2025.
What was RMS Titanic?
Operated by the White Star Line, RMS Titanic was a luxury ocean liner and the largest ship on the oceans at the time. She embarked on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York on 10 April 1912, carrying over 2000 crew and passengers, ranging from society’s wealthiest to poor immigrants in search of a new life.
At 11.40pm on 14 April 1912, Titanic hit an iceberg in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The crew initially didn’t realise the seriousness of the damage, but it soon became apparent that the ship was sinking. The efforts to organise an evacuation were chaotic and the ship, thought to be unsinkable, didn’t carry enough lifeboats for everyone on board. The ship sank in just 117 minutes and over two-thirds of those on board died, with particularly high rates of loss among Third Class passengers and crew.
Who are the cast and characters of Titanic Sinks Tonight?
The real-life people who appear on Titanic Sinks Tonight include:
White Star Line employees and ship's crew
Gerry O'Brien as Captain Edward Smith
Born in Hanley, Staffordshire in 1850, Edward Smith was a seaman of many year's experience who had worked for the White Star Line since 1880. He had previously served as the captain of Titanic's sister ship, RMS Olympic, in a 1911 incident when it collided with a Royal Navy ship and was badly damaged, but managed to make it back to port with no fatalities. He was the captain of the Titanic.
Adam Rhys-Charles as Charles Lightoller
Charles Lightoller was a Second Officer on Titanic. Born into a wealthy family in Chorley, Lancashire in 1874, he first went to sea aged 13, and lived a life full of adventure, surviving a cyclone and several shipwrecks, prospecting for gold in the Klondike gold rush, and riding the rails through Canada as a hobo. He had been working for the White Star Line since 1900.
Ethan McHale as Joseph Boxall
29-year-old Joseph Boxall, from Hull, was a Fourth Officer on Titanic.
Tyger Drew-Honey as Harold Bride
Aged 22 at the time of Titanic's voyage, Harold Bride was the Second Radio Operator.
Ciaran McCourt as Fred Barrett
29-year-old Fred Barrett, from Bootle in Cheshire, was a fireman on Titanic.
Dino Luca as Thomas Dillon
33-year-old Thomas Dillon, from Liverpool, was a coal trimmer on board Titanic.
Vicky Allen as Violet Jessop
24-year-old Violet Jessop was a stewardess on board Titanic. She had also been on board Olympic in the 1911 collision and would also go on to survive the sinking of the third sister ship, HMHS Britannic, in 1916.
Patrick Buchanan as Bruce Ismay
Bruce Ismay, the chair and managing director of the White Star Line, was also on board Titanic.
First Class passengers
Rhys Mannion as Jack Thayer
Jack Thayer was the 17-year-old son of wealthy American railroad magnate John Borland Thayer and his wife Marian.
Candida Gubbins as Lucy Duff-Gordon
Lucy Duff-Gordon was born Lucy Sutherland in 1863. In 1895, following her divorce from her first husband, she became a dressmaker to support herself and her daughter. She founded the successful Maison Lucile fashion house and pioneered the concept of the catwalk. In 1900 she entered the British aristocracy when she married Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon. She was travelling with Cosmo aboard the Titanic.
Second Class passengers
Lisa Dwer-Hogg as Charlotte Collyer
Charlotte Collyer, from Hampshire, was travelling on board Titanic with her husband Harvey and their 8-year-old daughter Marjorie. The family were emigrating to the USA in search of a better life. Charlotte also suffered from tuberculosis and they hoped that the climate would improve her health. Harvey had sold the family's grocery shop in Hampshire to fund the trip.
Third Class passengers
Hannah Wengård as Anna Sjöblom
18-year-old Anna Sjöblom was emigrating from rural Finland to join her father and brother, who were working in the timber industry in Washington state in America.
Andrew Doherty as Eugene Daly
29-year-old Eugene Daly, from Athlone in Ireland, was emigrating to America with a cousin, Maggie Daly, and a friend, Bertha Mulvihill.
Sara Diab as Celiney Yazbeck
17-year-old Celiney was from the village of Hardin in Greater Syria (modern-day Lebanon), which at the time was part of the Ottoman Empire. Celiney and her husband Antun, like many other Christians from the Empire at the time, wanted to emigrate to America to escape religious persecution. They boarded Titanic at Cherbourg.
