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 backdrop 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 opening in late 1997, the film (a huge global commerial and

critical success) 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 nominated

feature ever (with fourteen) and subsequently the biggest winner

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

released in 2012 to mark the centenary of the disaster, followed by

theatrical re-releases in 2017 and 2023.

Shown on Channel 4 tonight, the film also featured Billy Zane, Bill

Paxton, David Warner (Lovejoy here and Laurence Beesley in

1979's S.O.S. Titanic), and eighteen 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 stuntman on The Idiot's Lantern
• Brian McDermott (Preston) was [Douglas] Sheard in Time Flight
• 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