Doctor Who Vs. Titanic (1997)

James Cameron's epic disaster

movie was a fictionalised

account of the sinking of RMS

Titanic in 1912.

Kate Winslet and Leonardo 

DiCaprio played Rose De Witt

Bukater and Jack Dawson, 
young lovers from contrasting
 social classes who met on the 
ship's ill-fated maiden voyage.
Cameron felt that the emotional
impact of the disaster would be
 best conveyed by a romance 
played out against a back-

drop of historical events and
real people. 

Co-funded by Paramount and 

Fox, production began in 1995 

as Cameron filmed the actual

wreck on the bottom of the 
Atlantic. Bernard Hill, Jonathan Hyde, Victor Garber, Ioan Grufford, and 
Kathy Bates depicted Captain Smith, Bruce Ismay, Thomas Andrews, 
First Officer Lowe, and Mollie Brown respectively.

Upon its release in late 1997, the film was a global commercil and

critical success and began breaking records. As the most expensive

film ever made to date (with a budget of $200 million), it was the

highest grossing one too - it was the first picture to take $1 billion

(then $2 billion) at the box office. It became the most Oscar nom-

inated feature ever (fourteen) and subsequently the biggest winner

(eleven awards tied it with Ben Hur). A 3D version of Titanic was

released in April 2012 to mark the centenary of the disaster.

Shown on Film4 last night, the film also featured Billy Zane, Bill

Paxton, David Warner (Lovejoy here and Laurence Beesley in

1979's S.O.S. Titanic), and seventeen Doctor Who cast and crew

connections:

• Ron [Eaglesham] Donachie [born Porter] (Master-at-Arms) was the Steward in Tooth and Claw
• Martin Jarvis and Rosalind Ayres (the Duff Gordons) both starred in Big Finish's Jubilee (2003) as Nigel and Miriam Rochester - Jarvis was also Hilio in The Web Planet, Butler in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, and the Governor in Vengeance on Varos
• Paul Brightwell (Quartermaster Hitchens) was the Surgeon in World Enough and Time
• Craig Kelly (Harold Bride) provided the voice of Joe for Scream of the Shalka
• Derek Lea (Stoker Barrett) was a stuntman on Dalek, Bad Wolf, The Parting of the Ways, The Age of Steel and Partners in Crime
• Rocky [born Laurie] Taylor (Cartmell) was a Warrior in (episode 9 of) The Daleks' Master Plan, Guard in The Curse of Peladon (4), and a stuntman on The Idiot's Lantern
• Terry [Phiilip Julian] Forrestal (Bell) was Tractor Driver in K9 and Company
• Paul Herbert (Steward) was a stuntman on The End of Time
• stuntman Kiran Shah was the Figure in Listen, and an Emojibot in Smile
• Jo McLaren was also stunt performer on Day of the Moon and Let's Kill Hitler, then stunt co-ordinator on six other episodes (from The Snowmen to The Return of Doctor Mysterio)
• stuntmen Paul Heasman and Bill Weston both worked on the classic series
• stunt performers Ray De Haan, Jamie Edgell, Sarah Franzl and Lee Sheward all worked on the revived run