ABC - The Liners: A Voyage of Discovery (1997)

Ocean liners were far more than simply giant ships that carried passengers across the seas. They were bold statements of national power and technological might; pawns in a giant, volatile game of one-upmanship between rival nations. Like rocket ships in the space race of the 1970s, liners were the symbols of ultimate power in the early struggle between the superpowers for dominance of the world.
The Liners is a unique and exciting four-part series exploring the History of the World's Great Passenger ships, the lines that operated them and the remarkable people they carried. The Liners tells for the first time the global story of these great ships – an epic story inextricably linked with epic world events. t's a remarkable voyage from the earliest days of the first paddle-wheeled superliner; through their use in times of war as well as peace; into the present and beyond, for a preview of giant ocean-going cities already in the advanced planning stages.
With a combination of superb archive footage, expert commentary and fascinating interviews this series is much more than simply a story about big, beautiful ships. It is a saga of the volatile changing world of the last 150 years, a world in which these giant transoceanic people movers became the conduit for enormous technological, social and political change.

Part 1: Maiden Voyage
Maiden Voyage begins with by looking at the initial move away from traditional sail ships and the development of the first ocean-going steam powered ships and the the subsequent formation of the major cruise lines P&O and Cunard. As the years pass we see how the rivalry between Germany and Britain intensified with Germany's launching of the world's first superliner, the Kaiser Wilhelm Der Grosse in 1897, a four-stacker that went on to capture the much coveted Blue Riband from Britain. We see how the Britain responded with the production of two of their own giant liners, Mauretania and Lusitania, ostensibly to win back the Blue Riband and dominance of the North Atlantic passenger trade. Maiden Voyage also focuses on the building and and subsequent sinking of the Titanic, whilst also providing an insight into the events leading up to World War One.

Part 2: Ships of War
Ships of War focuses firstly on the invaluable role that ocean liners played during the First World War, from Winston Churchill ( who was First Lord of the Admiralty at the time ) 'taking the attack to Germany' and the huge vessels being used as 'hospital ships', all the way to the sinking of the Lusitania and the subsequent entry of the Americans into the war. The programme then moves into the immediate post-war years as the greatest migration of people in history, from the old world to the new, continued. The Roaring Twenties really roared and the rich had never had it so good, and the introduction of prohibition saw the liners capitalise by offering 'booze cruises to nowhere'. Then in 1927 France introduced the Ile de France, and a new era in liners began. It was now not so important what the liner looked like from the outside, but more how they were fitted and decorated on the inside. This was the dawn of the Art Deco era and new luxury liners that excluded taste and style would re-define sea travel forever.

Part 3: The Great Duel
The Great Duel picks up the story during the the great economic depression of the 1930's when all works on Cunard's new project, the Queen Mary, had ceased. However, following Germany's mighty Bremen winning the much coveted Blue Riband and the subsequent unveiling of France's Normandie, the biggest and most luxurious ship in the world, Britain's maritime reputation was now at stake and so work re-commenced of the Queen Mary. Indeed, a great duel had begun for dominance of the oceans between the world's two largest and fastest ships. This great rivalry between the pride of France and the new Cunard Queen saw new speed records set, and the eventual capturing of the Blue Riband by the Queen Mary. In fact the Queen Mary had set a record time for the crossing of the Atlantic that would stand for almost two decades. The Great Duel also includes the years that directly led up to World War Two, with the Nazis very own "strength through joy" cruises, the launching of the world famous Queen Elizabeth, and also how the liners played their part during the war effort.

Part 4: Endless Voyage
Endless Voyage tells the captivating story of the of the necessary evolution that took place between the end of the war and present day. The 'jet age' had forced liners into the most dramatic struggle of their long and illustrious history and by the 1960's 95% of Transatlantic crossings were made by jet. The liners reacted in the only way they could, they found a way to embrace the jet age and worked together with the jets to in focusing their attention on the cruise holiday market : the jets would fly the passengers to Miami and the ships would take care of the rest. Cruise holidays were now a global enterprise and new, huge and decadently luxurious liners were being launched. Where speed used to the liners main criteria, it is now size and luxury which ticks the necessary boxes, illustrated perfectly by the mighty QE2 and the "floating city", Carnival Destiny, which has helped to usher in a new era for the liners.