The Sinking of the Laconia (2010– )

Documentary telling the true story of the sinking of the liner Laconia by a German U-boat in 1942 through the eyes of six survivors.

Stars:

Andrew Buchan, Ken Duken, Franka Potente

4 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Andrew Buchan	...	Thomas Mortimer (2 episodes, 2011)
Ken Duken	...	Werner Hartenstein (2 episodes, 2011)
Franka Potente	...	Hilda (2 episodes, 2011)
Thomas Kretschmann	...	Admiral Dönitz (2 episodes, 2011)
Brian Cox	...	Captain Sharp (2 episodes, 2011)
Lindsay Duncan	...	Elisabeth Fullwood (2 episodes, 2011)
Matthias Koeberlin	...	Rostau (2 episodes, 2011)
Ludovico Fremont	...	Vincenzo Di Giovanni (2 episodes, 2011)
Jacob Matschenz	...	Mannesmann (2 episodes, 2011)
Frederick Lau	...	Fiedler (2 episodes, 2011)
Simon Verhoeven	...	Harro Schacht (2 episodes, 2011)
Morven Christie	...	Laura Ferguson (2 episodes, 2011)
Jodi Balfour	...	Sarah Fullwood (2 episodes, 2011)
Nicholas Burns	...	Captain Coutts (2 episodes, 2011)
Ciarán McMenamin	...	Declan McDermott (2 episodes, 2011)
Lenny Wood	...	Billy Hardacre (2 episodes, 2011)
Ben Crompton	...	Harry Townes (2 episodes, 2011)
Matthew Aubrey	...	William Williams (2 episodes, 2011)
Paul Hilton	...	Henry Bates (2 episodes, 2011)
Josef Du Plessis	...	Anthony Bates (2 episodes, 2011)
Rebekah Nathan	...	Charlotte Bates (2 episodes, 2011)
Jörg Malchow	...	Weber (2 episodes, 2011)
Oskar Brown	...	Waldemar (2 episodes, 2011)
Stefan Rudolf	...	Remmert (2 episodes, 2011)
Nikolai Kinski	...	Walter Drexler (2 episodes, 2011)
Christian Serritiello	...	Additional Voices (2 episodes, 2011)

Storyline

Part one:- In 1942,the Laconia,an old British cruise liner turned troop ship, is returning to Liverpool from Egypt with civilian passengers and Italian prisoners. Its guns are outdated, its captain, Sharp, lost his last ship and the Italians, unhappy at being caged below the water line, are tormented by their Polish guards. Third officer Mortimer learns that his family have been killed in an air raid and seeks comfort with Hilda Smith, a mysterious widow who seems to have visited Germany recently. At that moment the ship is torpedoed by a German U-boat, whose humane captain, Kapitanleutnant Werner Hartenstein, learning that the Laconia was not a warship, decides to rescue the survivors, bringing some into the submarine and towing others in life-boats.

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Plot Keywords:

u boat | survivor | ship | captain | german | 

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Genres:

Drama | History

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site at UFA.de

Country:

UK Germany

Language:

English German

Also Known As:

A Laconia elsüllyesztése

Filming Locations:

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

Company Credits

Production Co:

Talkback Thames, Teamworx, Two Oceans Production (TOP)

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

The number of lifeboats being towed often changes from shot to shot.

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Connections

Featured in When TV Goes to War (2011)

User Reviews

I enjoyed it.

Just happen to watch this movie about 2 months ago. I really enjoyed it, I didn't think for one second it was anti American. In the movie the scene people are referring to they were given direct orders to bomb, they reported what they saw. But in general I thought it was a great TV movie. People take stuff so serious. Just relax and take in the show. I'm starting to really enjoy international movies, to me just more depth. It's nice to see at war time what went on behind the scenes in other countries. Germany could have easily said screw those people but they showed compassion. Just think the world was at War, they stopped what they were doing and helped the enemy.