CNN will present the HBO documentary TRIANGLE: REMEMBERING THE FIRE this SATURDAY, MARCH 26 at 11:00 p.m. (ET)/8:00 p.m. (PT), it was announced jointly today by HBO and CNN.

TRIANGLE: REMEMBERING THE FIRE tells an historic story that is still relevant today. On March 25, 1911, a catastrophic fire broke out at the Triangle Waist Company in New York City. Trapped inside the upper floors of a ten-story building, 146 workers – mostly young immigrant women and teenage girls – were burned alive or forced to jump to their deaths to escape an inferno that consumed the factory in just 18 minutes. It was the worst disaster at a workplace in New York State until 9/11. The tragedy changed the course of history, paving the way for government to represent working people, not just business, for the first time, and helped an emerging American middle class to live the American Dream.

TRIANGLE: REMEMBERING THE FIRE, which debuted March 21 on HBO, was directed by Daphne Pinkerson; produced by Daphne Pinkerson and Marc Levin; written by Michael Hirsch, Richard Lowe and Daphne Pinkerson; scenes from “The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal” directed by Mel Stuart. For HBO: senior producer, Nancy Abraham; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.

Official HBO Website

I tweeted about this yesterday after reading it over at Entertainment Weekly, but a spate of articles confirms the Titanic mini-series commissioned by ABC to be penned by Downton Abbey scribe, Julian Fellowes.

Olympic (left) and Titanic on March 6, 1912 at Harland & Wolff

From the BBC:

Downton Abbey and Gosford Park creator Julian Fellowes is to write a TV mini-series about the 1912 sinking of the Titanic, to air next year on ITV1.

The series – set to start filming in Hungary this spring – will mark the centenary of the liner’s demise.

Titanic will be “the must-see original drama for this landmark centenary anniversary,” said Maria Kyriacou, of ITV Studios Global Entertainment.

Dame Helen Mirren and Romola Garai have been linked to roles in the drama.

Viewers will be taken on a “heart-wrenching journey through Titanic’s last hours,” pledged ITV in a statement.

The six-part series, it said, would combine “action, mystery and romantic plot lines” and feature both fictional and historical characters.

The ship – claimed to be unsinkable by its builders – sank after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic in April 1912.

The programme will also be screened in the United States [Link to Deadline] and Australia.

Fellowes – who became Lord Fellowes of West Stafford last November – enjoyed success with Downton Abbey last year.

The first episode of the lavish period drama began with news of the Titanic’s sinking.

I speculated that Fellowes could add the doomed Crawley cousins to the cast of characters in this mini-series, but what do you think? Will it do justice to the tragic maiden crossing of the ocean liner? Can anyone—even the talented Fellowes—ever shake the image of Leo and Kate embracing on Titanic’s bow? Has anyone seen the 1996 CBS series starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Peter Gallagher?

From BBC1: Turn Back Time – The High Street where a group of shop-keeping families are transported back to the birth of the high street in the 1870s, and propelled through a century of change, right up to the modern era and the 1970s.

Starts November 2, 2010 at 9 PM.

Telegraph article

BBC: Hands on History

About a month ago, an assistant to the BBC Drama dept contacted me to consult the historical accuracy of an upcoming mini-series. As I don’t live in Britain, the collaboration was aborted (but oh wouldn’t it have been fun!?), however, I still hold a fond memory of “what if,” and am pleased to see a spate of articles online about Consuming Passion: 100 Years of Mills & Boon. Though Mills & Boon has become synonymous with romance (in England at least; its parent company Harlequin is the by-word for romance in America), up until the 1930s, it was your average general publisher. But, from the beginning, Gerald Mills and Charles Boon watched consumer demand closely and were determined to bring readers precisely what they desired, and at an affordable price.

Written by Emma Frost, the 90 minute drama will interweave the stories of three very different women to shed light on the impact and influence the books had on women’s lives over the last century.

The first story features Mary (Jodie Whittaker), wife of Charles Boon (Daniel Mays), the wheeler-dealer co-founder of the publishing imprint with his staunch business partner and trusted friend Gerald Mills (Patrick Kennedy).

Whilst their book business fought to be original and successful in 1908 London, at home a very different battle raged between Mary and Charles – a battle fought in the bedroom, which would define the course of publishing history as Mills & Boon decide to take a chance on their low-brow, high-romance genre.

Second is the tale of Janet Bottomley (Olivia Colman), an ordinary spinster devoted to her ailing mother, but at the expense of herself. Janet’s life takes a U-turn when she meets a devastatingly, handsome consultant (Patrick Baladi) who must operate on her mother. Triggering Janet’s fantastical yearning for romance, a comedy of errors ensues, changing her world forever.

Finally, Kirstie’s story brings the experience of Mills & Boon up-to-date. A university lecturer in literature and feminist studies, Kirstie (TBC) is in a stagnating relationship with her partner Nick. Thwarted, bored and frustrated, she is lecturing to students on Mills & Boon and its place in our canon, when a young stranger enters her life.[BBC Press Release]

Though many articles and press releases focus on the “salaciousness” of the romance genre (the hopelessly outdated phrase, “bodice ripper”!), here’s to a hour and a half of celebration of the rightful role romance novels (and Mills & Boon) have in not only the lives of women, but the literary canon.