The films of the book
Emmy-nominated director Marion Milne is pictured here with Director of Photography Andrew Muggleton. See Marion's showreel at http://www.pbshowfolio.com/marionmilne
Emmy-nominated director Marion Milne is pictured here with Director of Photography Andrew Muggleton. See Marion's showreel at http://www.pbshowfolio.com/marionmilne
TITANIC: THE AFTERMATH is a major Discovery Channel drama documentary that has been seen around the world. The film, which tells the shocking story of what happened after the Titanic sank, is based on my book, And The Band Played On. It is now available to buy on Amazon as a two-disc DVD.
Filming took place in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the recovered bodies were taken two weeks after the sinking in 1912, as well as Southampton, Liverpool and Dumfries - Jock and Mary's home town.
I spent a week filming with the crew in Halifax, Nova Scotia. "Wheels Up" was at 7am most days to catch the first light and we rarely stopped filming before "Wrap Up" at 8pm. The film crew recreated the departure and return of "the ship of death", the cable ship Mackay-Bennett, which brought the bodies back to Halifax. There were heartrending scenes filmed in Fairview Lawn Cemetery where the bodies of 121 Titanic dead, including Jock, are buried. We also filmed in the makeshift mortuary in Agricola Street - then a curling rink, today an army surplus store.
The crew flew to Halifax via New York where they interviewed Jackie Astor Drexel, granddaughter of Jacob Astor and his young bride, Madeleine. She talked about how the shadow of the Titanic had fallen across generations of her own family - a theme of my book and of the film.
Having seen for the first time the care and patience that goes into the making of a documentary, I will never watch one again without a feeling of intense sympathy for those taking part and admiration for those making it. Filming is constantly interrupted by the noise of passing cars, low-flying planes and fog horns, requiring endless re-takes. Curious children wander into camera view,
Don't ask me why but it took five retakes of me gazing meaningfully out to sea in the harbour before director Marion Milne decided she had got what she wanted - at which an ice-cream van jangled its bells, ruining the whole thing. "OK, let's do it one more time, then..."
I also appeared in an American PBS documentary, 'Titanic - Band of Courage' about the cruel twist of fate that brought the eight bandsmen together on the Titanic.
This summer (2015) a film crew from NHK, the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation, came to my home in Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders to interview me about Jock. We then went to Dumfries to film in Dock Park where the memorial obelisk to Jock and his friend, Tom Mullin, stands next to the bandstand where Jock's father conducted the orchestra on Sunday afternoons. It was the first time I have seen the fine restoration work that has been carried out on the bandstand.
I spent a week filming with the crew in Halifax, Nova Scotia. "Wheels Up" was at 7am most days to catch the first light and we rarely stopped filming before "Wrap Up" at 8pm. The film crew recreated the departure and return of "the ship of death", the cable ship Mackay-Bennett, which brought the bodies back to Halifax. There were heartrending scenes filmed in Fairview Lawn Cemetery where the bodies of 121 Titanic dead, including Jock, are buried. We also filmed in the makeshift mortuary in Agricola Street - then a curling rink, today an army surplus store.
The crew flew to Halifax via New York where they interviewed Jackie Astor Drexel, granddaughter of Jacob Astor and his young bride, Madeleine. She talked about how the shadow of the Titanic had fallen across generations of her own family - a theme of my book and of the film.
Having seen for the first time the care and patience that goes into the making of a documentary, I will never watch one again without a feeling of intense sympathy for those taking part and admiration for those making it. Filming is constantly interrupted by the noise of passing cars, low-flying planes and fog horns, requiring endless re-takes. Curious children wander into camera view,
Don't ask me why but it took five retakes of me gazing meaningfully out to sea in the harbour before director Marion Milne decided she had got what she wanted - at which an ice-cream van jangled its bells, ruining the whole thing. "OK, let's do it one more time, then..."
I also appeared in an American PBS documentary, 'Titanic - Band of Courage' about the cruel twist of fate that brought the eight bandsmen together on the Titanic.
This summer (2015) a film crew from NHK, the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation, came to my home in Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders to interview me about Jock. We then went to Dumfries to film in Dock Park where the memorial obelisk to Jock and his friend, Tom Mullin, stands next to the bandstand where Jock's father conducted the orchestra on Sunday afternoons. It was the first time I have seen the fine restoration work that has been carried out on the bandstand.
IN THE PRESS
Read serialisations of this incredible story in the following publications:
Read serialisations of this incredible story in the following publications:
'A heartbreaking story wonderfully told' Julian Fellowes,
creator of Downton Abbey
