Roscommon actor to feature in new Titanic TV series

A young South Roscommon actor’s star continues to rise. He will soon feature in a BBC mini-series about the sinking of the Titanic.

Kiltoom man Rhys Mannion told the Herald he was delighted to be in the forthcoming series on the iconic and tragic ship’s first and only transatlantic voyage.

He said that the production, which has a working title of ‘Titanic Sinks Tonight’, was filmed in Belfast Harbour Studios.

“Filming was so much fun, it was a really wonderful project to be on. It is a four part documentary series based on accounts from the people who were on the ship,” Rhy said. “So it’s a portrayal of what happened to the people who were there. Every word that is spoke is straight from the source.” 

Rhys plays a survivor called Jack Thayer who was from Pennsylvania in the US. “He was 17 years old, one of the youngest members in First Class. In my opinion he was probably one of the most courageous young men onboard. He let all the women and children get on the lifeboats. At the time 14 years old was pretty much the cut-off point, you were a man after that age. He ended up jumping into the water and finding his way on to a collapsable lifeboat, and surviving. Just by sheer will power and camaraderie. It was a really powerful story to tell. I was honoured to be able to tell something like that.” 

The 22-year-old said that the actors were working with digital screens, allowing them to see the special effects in real time, not just having to visualise the ocean but being able to see the Atlantic and half of the boat underwater on a digital screen.

It is hoped that ‘Titanic Sinks Tonight’ will be on our screens shortly. “Every scene in it is just as gripping as the next. It is something that everyone involved in is very proud of.” Rhys will also appear in season 4 of the comedy-drama series, ‘Harry Wild’.

“I play the antagonist for that episode so it was a lot of fun,” he said.

Recently he played a young CS Lewis in the film ‘Freud's Last Session’, and he continues to be very busy with work, having just finished a film, ‘Feed’, before shooting the new Titanic series.

“It was filmed in Wexford and I play one of five social media influencers who go to a remote Airbnb. It ends up being the burial ground of the first ever documented story of vampirism,” he said.

With a vampire’s ability to control minds, “I guess it is the old world influencer versus the new age influencer,” he joked.

“That was a lot of fun. The film will be out in September,” he said. “It doesn’t have the real, heavy gore, it’s more story mixed with some horror.” At the end of this month Rhys, who is a student at Trinity College Dublin, will be directing a crowdfunded short film called ‘Christopher Mouse”, his first time in the director’s chair.