It is based on the passenger liner RMS Titanic, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in April 1912 following a collision with an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City.

[1] The series was created by producer Nigel Stafford-Clark and written by Julian Fellowes to mark the 100th anniversary of the maritime disaster on 15 April 1912.

It sets out to paint a portrait of a whole society, telling the stories of a wide range of characters, both real and imagined, from every social level.

Thomas Andrews hires Irishman Jim Maloney to get a more competent team to finish the behind-schedule electrical wiring, in exchange for transporting his family to America for a new life.

Meanwhile, Paolo, the brother of the Italian engineer Mario, catches the eye of a beautiful stewardess, Annie Desmond.

Italian stoker Mario Sandrini gets a job on the ship, and he also manages to secure passage for his brother Paolo, as the only foreign waiter in the first class dining saloon.

However, their argument is interrupted when the iceberg strikes, and fear builds in steerage as passengers find themselves behind locked gates.

Mario and the other Italians from Gatti's Restaurant have been locked in a storage cupboard and, after Paolo sees Annie safely to a lifeboat, he goes in search of his brother.

As Batley and his wife try to launch the overturned lifeboat with Lord Manton, Barnes and other passengers and crew, the ship takes its final plunge and waters engulfs the forward superstructure, sweeping them all apart.

John Doyle of The Globe and Mail described Titanic as "exemplary entertainment", "a high-grade nobs-and-slobs story set on a sinking ship".

"[5] Brad Oswald of the Winnipeg Free Press said that the miniseries lives up to the story it endeavours to tell, that it is a disaster.

With such emphasis on class distinction "it completely misses the mark in terms of portraying the emotional and organizational chaos of the tragedy."

He went on to say that, in comparison to the many programmes on so many channels and the James Cameron film, "this tepid offering feels rather redundant and pointless.

"[6] On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an aggregated score of 38% based on 3 positive and 5 negative critic reviews.