Smithsonian finds TVT’s Lost Ships

Lost Ships: The Hunt for the Kaiser’s Superfleet

US-based factual cablenet Smithsonian Channel has picked up a feature-length documentary about a sunken battleship fleet from London-based prodco TVT Productions.

Lost Ships: The Hunt for the Kaiser’s Superfleet (1×90’) details the search to find German battleships sunk off the Falklands Islands in 1914. It will air on the Smithsonian Channel in the US and the UK.

The doc follows Falklands-born underwater archaeologist Mensun Bound as he attempts to locate the vessels, which were sunk by the British Navy during one of the first great sea battles of World War One.

Lost Ships is produced by TVT Production alongside Polestar Pictures. The title is exec produced by Charles Thompson and directed by Matthew Wortman. The programme was produced with funding from The Falkland Maritime Heritage Trust.

Thompson said: “Lost Ships: The Hunt for the Kaiser’s Superfleet is a riveting story of the culmination of one man’s childhood dream to find a lost fleet of the world’s most fearsome battleships. Using state-of-the-art technology and battling some of the planet’s worst conditions, it reveals hidden secrets of one of the most famous sea battles in history.”

In an interview for C21’s Schedule Watch, Smithsonian exec VP and chief programming officer David Royle said: “The search to find the Scharnhorst, which has been on the seabed since December 1914, came to its conclusion in December. We have exclusive film of that discovery. A number of other UK broadcasters wanted that story. We love it when we get the inside track on something bigger people than us would like to get their hands on.”

Read the full profile of Smithsonian Channel and Royle’s other commissioning priorities here.