Titanic 2012 ABC Mini-series Guide to the Characters

Titanic 2012 miniseries by Julian Fellowes

Titanic is a fast moving mini-series, so I have decided that a guide with the "names and numbers of all the players" would really help to keep track of everything onscreen if you will be watching the Titanic miniseries on ABC this Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 10 pm. So here it is, courtesy of Global TV Canada who have been airing it all this month.

First Class

Louisa, Countess of Manton

Played by Geraldine Somerville

Hugh’s wife, whose aristocratic Anglo-Irish family background causes an instant chemical reaction in Muriel Batley.  Her relationship with her daughter Georgiana is not made easier by their similarities.

Hugh, Earl of Manton

Played by Linus Roache

Head of the Manton family, with the confidence and charm born of several centuries of aristocratic breeding.  But his past contains an unexpected secret.

Georgiana Grex

Played by Perdita Weeks

The Mantons’ daughter.  She has inherited her mother’s self assurance, but she still has the impetuousness of youth.  Her involvement with the Suffragette movement, and her arrest during one of their demonstrations, make it a matter of urgency for her parents to spirit her away to New York.

Dorothy Gibson

Played by Sophie Winkleman

The 22-year-old Dorothy Gibson established herself the year before as one of the first stars of the silent movie era, with such popular hits as Miss Masquerader and Hands Across the Sea.  She is traveling back to the USA with her mother after a vacation in Italy.  Within a month of the disaster, she will have written and starred in Saved from the Titanic, playing herself.

J. Bruce Ismay

Played by James Wilby

Chairman of the White Star Line, one of the foremost companies in the golden age of the transatlantic crossing, and the owners of Titanic, the world’s largest and most technically advanced ocean liner,.  His conduct on the night of 15 April 1912 will earn him the tabloid soubriquet the Coward of the Titanic and effectively end his career.

Thomas Andrews

Played by Stephen Campbell Moore

The nephew of Harland and Wolff’s chairman, Lord Pirrie,  Andrews replaced Alexander Carlisle as Titanic’s designer.  He is concerned about some of the design and quality control issues – amongst them the reduction in the number of lifeboats from Carlisle’s original plans – but his misgivings are swept aside by Bruce Ismay and the need to have Titanic ready for her maiden voyage.

Benjamin Guggenheim

Played by David Eisner

Another American of great wealth, this time from his father’s mining empire.  Guggenheim is openly traveling with his French mistress, Madame Aubart, a cause of much scandal.  But his stoical and ironic response to the events of 15 April 1912 will make him a legend in Titanic folklore.

Grace Rushton

Played by Celia Imrie

A member of the new industrial class, whose rise to power and wealth over the previous decade has unsettled the hegemony of the landed aristocracy.  Travelling with her husband Joseph and her Pekinese Suki, she is regarded with barely disguised horror by the old money in First Class.

Lady Duff Gordon

Played by Sylvestra Le Touzel

She is the wife of a prominent Scottish baronet and Olympic fencing silver medalist, Sir Cosmo.  Their marriage was considered a slightly risqué in 1900 as she was a divorced London fashion designer whose sister, Elinor Glyn, was noted for her erotic fiction.  Their survival will prove controversial, as will their alleged reluctance to allow their lifeboat to return to pick up survivors.

Harry Widener

Played by Noah Reid

The son of an immensely wealthy Philadelphia family, traveling back to the US with his parents.  He is immediately attracted to the headstrong and impulsive Georgiana, and his intelligence and humour prove a good foil for her self-confident impetuosity.

SECOND CLASS

John Batley

Played by Toby Jones

An Irish lawyer who moved to London as a young man with the world at his feet and joined the distinguished firm that handles Lord Manton’s affairs.  But things have not worked out as he would have wished, and he has had to settle for a role as a discreet and trusted servant of the aristocracy.

Muriel Batley

Played by Maria Doyle Kennedy

John’s Irish wife has had her dreams crushed by the failure of his career and their inability to have a child.  A life in Croydon is not what she anticipated, and she has found his role as the errand boy of her country’s historic oppressors increasingly hard to bear.  The trip to New York, albeit in Second Class, promises to be a welcome respite, but the encounter with the patrician Lord Manton and his Anglo-Irish wife is for her the final straw.

THIRD CLASS

Jim Maloney

Played by Peter McDonald

A Belfast engineer working on the Titanic’s fitting out.  He sees no future for his family as Catholics in the fervently Protestant Ulster, despite the imminent arrival in the House of Commons of the third attempt at an Irish Home Rule Bill.  His expertise in the new art of electrical wiring leads to an unexpected offer of a free passage to New York.  The drawback is that it’s in steerage...

Mary Maloney

Played by Ruth Bradley

Jim’s attractive and loyal wife.  She’s used to following Jim’s lead, and she accepts the uprooting of her family and the discomfort of a steerage passage with their four young children with equal grace.  But she is about to have an encounter that will turn her life upside down.

Peter Lubov

Played by Dragos Bucur

A dark and charismatic stranger described by Officer Lightoller as looking like the wandering prophet.  He is determined to leave behind the violent social upheaval in Europe in which he has played a part, but his past is about to catch up with him.

CREW

Officer Charles Lightoller

Played by Steven Waddington

Famously portrayed by Kenneth More in A Night to Remember, Officer Charles Lightoller is regarded as one of the heroes of Titanic thanks to his diligence and his calm demeanour during the evacuation.  It is a deserved reputation, but he is also responsible for the loading policy that will send the lifeboats down at well under their full capacity, with a significant effect on the number of passengers offloaded.

Annie Desmond

Played by Jenna-Louise Coleman

A young stewardess in Second Class.  She is one of Paolo’s dreams, and despite their contrasting temperaments and his unorthodox approach, there is something about him that attracts her.

Paolo Sandrini

Played by Glen Blackhall

One of the many Italians who left their native country in the twentieth century’s first decade to better their prospects.  He is desperate to find a way to accompany his brother Mario to the New World, where he dreams of a new life.

Captain Smith

Played by David Calder

Captain Edward J. Smith is an experienced and distinguished sea captain, whose many commands include that of Titanic’s sister ship Olympic.  However, evidence suggests that his desire to complete a successful maiden voyage by docking early in New York will lead to Titanic maintaining a speed that will prove unwise amidst the Atlantic ice floes.

Mario Sandrini

Played by Antonio Magro

Paolo’s brother, a stoker on Titanic, who manages to wangle  his brother on to the ship as a steward.  Mario’s practical approach to life contrasts with his brother’s dreams.

First Officer Murdoch

Played by Brian McCardie

Previously Chief Officer, Murdoch finds himself demoted to First Officer when Henry Wilde is brought in on the pretext of his previous experience in Olympic – despite the fact that Murdoch too has sailed as an officer in that same ship.  Murdoch is in the officer in charge on the bridge when Titanic encounters the iceberg.

SERVANTS 

Barnes

Played by Lee Ross

Barnes is Lord Manton’s valet.  He’s easy going, resourceful and generous, but he is an infuriating presence for Mabel Watson, his co-worker.

Mabel Watson
Played by Lyndsey Marshal

Mabel is Lady Manton's maid. She is tormented by Valet Barnes and she appears to have a secret...

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I hope that this will help you to keep track of the characters. Just assembling this has helped me to keep it all sorted. Have fun and let me know what you think (good and bad) about this series. Set your PVRs and enjoy!

N.B. I just finished watching the entire series, and I can absolutely recommend watching it. It gives a real sense of what really went on that night from many different perspectives and I really got attached to some of the characters. I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see if they made it off. There is so much packed into these 4 hours that I will likely watch it again at least once. Yes, it is heartbreaking at the end of the last hour, but as we all know how it ends this isn't surprising. So go ahead and watch it. You know you want to!