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Interview: Ben Frow on why there was no risk taking on the unsinkable 'Titanic'
22 Mar 2012 : By Steve Cummins
Maria Doyle Kennedy and Toby Jones in Titanic
It’s a big week for Ben Frow. You can tell it by the excitement in his voice. Talking at speed, words tripping over themselves the TV3 director of programming struggles to contain himself at mention of that word: Titanic.

In my opinion, it’s the greatest story ever told,” he tells IFTN from his Dublin office. “I have an endless fascination with Titanic. Endless. From the very moment that they first discovered it, all those years ago, I’ve been fascinated with it. You know the fact that it’s still down there, sitting on the bottom of the Atlantic. That there are still loads of people visiting it… and all those stories….. It’s the ultimate tragedy. The biggest living, moving man-made project on earth – on earth – unsinkable, and three days after leaving Cobh there it is, at the bottom of the ocean. It’s just a desperate story, a desperate story. I find it exciting. I can never see enough images of the Titanic. I think it’s a great story.”  

That he can never see enough of Titanic is, no doubt, a good thing. The ship and its story looms large over TV3’s schedule from this Sunday night, not to mention its accounts. TV3 have invested “significantly” in the much hyped ‘Titanic’ series, scripted by ‘Downton Abbey’s Julian Fellowes on a budget of around €15m. As co-producer of the project, the series marks TV3’s biggest ever spend on television drama.

Ben Frow
Ben Frow - Director of Programmes at TV3

We put in €300,000,” says Frow, “It was a significant amount of money for us - our biggest investment in drama ever. There was going to be a lot of noise out there, a lot of projects Titanic-related leading up to anniversary so what were we going to do that was going to stand out from the crowd? That was the question in my mind. I think I got involved with this before ‘Downton Abbey’ was even aired so I can’t even say that Downton happened and that it felt like a natural fit.

I just loved the idea of doing a drama on Titanic; I loved the approach that they were going to take. I had some concerns that I discussed with the show’s producer, Nigel Stafford-Clark and his team in London. You know, how was it going to be different? What were they bringing to table? What were we trying to represent?  How were we going to exercise the ghost of James Cameron’s ‘Titanic’, especially given that that was coming out in 3D. And you know, I was very respectively talked through the approach and what they were doing and how they were doing it.”

He says the attachment of Oscar-winner Fellowes, now arguably one of the biggest names in global TV drama, was only part of the attraction.  “They were the icing on the cake,” he says. “But really, it’s just obviously such a great story.”  

It’s an iconic project, it’s a landmark project and I think that it’s very rare that you get the opportunity to get involved in a landmark project that’s going to be shown all over the world. So it’s great for TV3 to be able to do that.”  

Airing over the next four weeks on TV3, the first episode goes out on Sunday night at 9pm with a cast that includes a number of Irish faces, with Maria Doyle-Kennedy, Ruth Bradley and Peter McDonald amongst them. The strong Irish element, although a plus, never really came into the equation for Frow when he got out TV3’s chequebook.

It’s nice you know that there’s an Irish cast attached,” he says, “but it doesn’t really make or break it for me. You know, I don’t think anybody ever says I’m going to watch that drama because it’s got a 25-35 per cent Irish cast in it. It boils down to is it a good drama, has it got a good story.

titanic
Ruth Bradley and Peter McDonald star in Titanic

I’m a great champion of Irish content, made by Irish people but that doesn’t mean that everything has to be Irish. Certainly something like this is a big global co-production and I’m not going to sit and bang the drum for Ireland saying it has to have x and y Irish in it.

I mean the main character in this is Irish. It’s Titanic - born in Belfast. It’s an Irish ship through and through. Its birth, and pretty much its death were related to Ireland in that the last piece of land it ever saw was Ireland. So it’s got Ireland running through it like a stick of rock, but I don’t think anyone goes ‘I’m not going to watch that because there are not enough Irish people in it’.”  

The investment in a drama like ‘Titanic’ is, Frow says, a natural progression for the station and a sign of where the station is now.

It wouldn’t be every day that an opportunity like this comes along,” he says. “But when it does, it’s good for TV3. I wouldn’t be doing it for prestige and it’s not just about ratings either. I mean ratings are important and I suppose I wouldn’t really be doing this if I didn’t think it would rate.”

As for the risk, Frow says there isn’t really any with ‘Titanic’.  “I’ve done things a lot riskier,” he smiles though acknowledging that the project needs to be right for the station.

titanic2
A scene from Titanic

At the moment, although drama is the holy grail, it’s very expensive. It’s very high risk. I certainly don’t have the money to be throwing out, doing lots of different things and seeing which one sticks. So when ‘Titanic’ came along, you know if I had to spend money on drama it had to be something that I knew would work.

There is no doubt that ‘Titanic’ will rate on Sunday. I’ve never said that in my life before and this one could come back and bite me, but I’d be stunned if it does.”

‘Titanic’ begins on TV3 this Sunday night (March 25) at 9pm.

The drama is executive produced by David Collins of Irish production company Samson Films.

 





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