Titanic: Building The World’s Largest Ship

Channel 4, 7.20pm

The story of the RMS Titanic’s fate is well charted. Thanks to numerous films and TV programmes, there surely can’t be anybody who isn’t aware that it sank during its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in April 1912.

Less famous are the tales behind the luxury liner’s construction, which is where this documentary comes in.

It takes viewers back to the early years of the 20th Century, when the White Star Line commissioned three huge vessels, including Titanic, from Belfast shipbuilders Harland & Wolff, in the hope it would surpass those used by their rivals.

Using CGI and the original blueprints, the programme charts the progress made by 15,000 workers as they toiled in appalling conditions. It also reveals the mistakes that led to the Titanic’s demise and the loss of more than 1,000 lives. )))))