The first trailer for Julian Fellowes' highly-anticipated Titanic four-part mini-series will sail onto our screens on Christmas Day.
The Downton Abbey writer has already proven his flair for turning period dramas into mainstream viewing, and now he's taken his Oscar-winning pen to the tale of the doomed 1912 voyage of the Titanic.
The two-minute trailer will air after the festive Downton Abbey special on ITV1 on 25 December, giving viewers their first glimpse of his next big-budget effort. The trailer will also be online on ITV Player from 23 December.
A statement from ITV, who have backed Fellowes' grand ambitions, said:
"Titanic is the extraordinary re-telling of that doomed voyage as it's never been told before. This is the first time the public will be introduced to some of the characters involved, before they come to screen to commemorate the centenary of the disaster...
"Titanic weaves action, mystery and romantic narratives featuring fictional and historical characters, before coming together in an explosive finale.
"Whilst James Cameron's 1997 film was primarily a love story between the two central characters, BAFTA-winning producer Nigel Stafford-Clark was inspired by the hundreds of untold stories of those aboard, and the drama provides a unique portrait of the society which gave birth to the liner, and which was heading as obliviously towards its own nemesis in 1914 as Titanic towards its iceberg."
The ship has been recreated, in part, by production designer Rob Harris (Generation Kill, Hornblower, The Devil's Whore), including a 60-metre promenade deck, 50-metre boat deck, four working lifeboats, two collapsible lifeboats, the ship's bridge and pursers' offices, stairways, 75 metres of interior corridors and more than a dozen separate interior rooms - from boiler rooms to dining rooms, third-class bunkrooms to first-class suites.
Director Jon Jones said: "It's an incredible, evocative playing space. We have built a huge section of the ship, that is jam-packed with a warren of rooms arranged to allow us a sense that we have the run of the ship.
"Once you enter the studio, it is like boarding the ship - you get a real sense of the space. We want to get to grips with how it really was to be confined in a tiny cabin in steerage - or effortlessly ensconced in a First Class stateroom. Our set allows us to really enter that world."
Linus Roache, Celia Imrie, Toby Jones, Geraldine Somerville, Sophie Winkleman and Timothy West lead the cast and the series will be shown in April 2012 to mark the landmark 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking.