CQD to SOS: A Titanic Story is a play written and directed by Oliver Giggins and produced by The Edinburgh Rep Company and Erstwhile Media. The production takes place within the wireless rooms of the RMS Titanic which sank on 15 April 1912 and the RMS Carpathia which came to the survivor's rescue. Told from the Marconi wireless operator's unique perspectives.
The play made its debut at the Edinburgh Fringe at Greenside at Riddles Court on 17 August 2026 and ran until 22 August 2026. It received a sell-out performance and four- and five-star reviews.
Background Oliver Giggins a director, writer, performer, producer and chairperson of The Edinburgh Rep Company is a self-confessed Titanic "nerd" becoming interested in the subject as a child after watching James Cameron's Titanic. After reading and consuming various versions of the story Giggins realised that the perspective of the wireless operators were consistently glossed over or misrepresented. Wanting to share an authentic portrayal of what occurred within the wireless rooms of the Titanic and Carpathia he set out to research the topic and develop the script.
Casting the project began in early 2026 with the casting announced in April to coincide with the 114th anniversary of the sinking.
The initial casting revealed to be Orcadian and Glasgow based actor, Daniel J G Drever announced as Harold Bride, Paisley native actor, Stephen McParland as Jack Phillips and Joshua Fleming as Harold Cottam the latter being re-cast due to scheduling conflicts with the role then going to Glasgow based actor Declan John Anthony.
Rehearsals and development of the production commenced in May 2026.
Productions The Edinburgh Rep Company and Erstwhile Media produced a filmed preview of the production on 25 July. The production was filmed at The Queen's Hall in Edinburgh.
The production made its debut at the Edinburgh Fringe at Greenside at Riddles Court in the Willow Studio nightly from 17 August to 22 August 2026 and ran for approximately fifty-five minutes. The production was well attended selling out on the final day of its run. Plot
It is 12:15AM, 15 April 1912. Titanic has hit an iceberg. In approximately two hours, over 2,000 people will be in the freezing water of the Atlantic Ocean, with survival counted in minutes. Their lives depend on three men – Titanic radio operators Jack Phillips and Harold Bride, and Carpathia radio operator Harold Cottam – and the radio set that broke the day before. Fate has placed Phillips, Bride, and Cottam, three working men doing a job, at the centre of one of the biggest peace-time tragedies of the twentieth century. Synopsis
The play begins on 13 April 1912. Harold Bride sets the scene for a 21st-century audience about what he and his colleagues roles are on board a ship like Titanic, both he and Jack Phillips explain how their duties are performed and how the wireless operates or does not in their case as the wireless set famously broke down that day forcing the duo to forego standard procedure and attempt to fix the set themselves.
Meanwhile Harold Cottam is hard at work on the Carpathia as sole operator he reveals to the audience the additional pressures and responsibilities that his role requires.
With the clock ticking over into the early hours of Sunday 14 April both Bride and Phillips are still at work trying to mend the wireless. Emphasising the lack of sleep, the disruption to their working hours and the pile up of telegrams being passed on from the purser's office to be sent out and the inability to receive any messages being sent to them from other stations they soon discover the cause of the issue- that the leads from the secondary transformer burnt through the casing and made contact with the iron bolts within it earthing the power. Phillips mends the issue and soon has the wireless fully operational again. It being 5am he sends young Bride to bed and starts to get through the backlog of messages. As Phillips frantically tries to catch up with his work, with his set turned up high to reach the Cape Race station on shore he receives an ice message from the much closer Californian startled and frustrated with their interference he responds with "Californian, I don't care that your engines are stopped and you are surrounded by ice, you are jamming. Keep out; am working Cape Race." Bride soon wakes up and takes over the wireless allowing the tired Phillips to rest.
Over on the Carpathia Cottam muses about his day being uneventful and notes the Titanic had come into sending range and recognises the operators as Phillips and Bride mentioning that being Marconi employees, they were familiar with one another. He notes the large number of messages being transmitted to the Titanic and how he sympathises with the immense backlog that they will have to work through.
Into the late evening of the 14th Phillips is at the key and Bride is in bed attempting to catch up on his sleep. A dull noise and small jolt are noted by Phillips briefly before returning to his work. Bride wakes up and checks in with Phillips to see how he is getting on with the work, Bride notes the mundanity of some of the messages they are expected to transmit and Phillips informs the unaware Bride his suspicions that the ship has been damaged in some way both do not make much of it confident in the ships strength in body and in crew. Bride takes over the wireless as Phillips goes through to bed and begins transmitting to Cape Race. At 12:15am Bride is interrupted by Captain Smith informing him of the collision and to prepare to send a call for assistance. As Jack and Harold discuss the incident Harold notes an ice message he picked up from the Californian when she was transmitting to the Baltic in the late afternoon which he took to the bridge. After some playful banter, the captain returns and issues the command to call for assistance giving the position of 41.44N and 50.24w. Clarifying that he requires the regulation call for help and only that. Phillips gets onto the key, and Bride sits ready to take down messages. Phillips begins sending out "CQD" with Bride questioning why he is not using "SOS" Phillips responds with the fact that very few operators at the time used it and how it was far less known that Marconi's signal. He continues sending a call for assistance with no responses coming in from other ships nearby puzzling them both. Cottam enters his cabin noting the time to be 12:25am and the date to be Monday 15 April 1912. Reporting that his day is at an end and that he soon will be retiring to bed and then he remembered the large number of messages being transmitted to the Titanic and how overworked his colleagues must be and decides to try and communicate with the Titanic to offer assistance in taking down the messages. He sends a message asking about the batch of messages from Cape Cod. Phillips receives the message and excitedly communicates their situation which is just missed by Cottam who is focused on unlacing his boots after a few unanswered messages he finally places his headset back on and recognises the call for distress. He asks if it is "serious" and explains to the audience what the distress calls mean with Phillips soon confirming that it is indeed serious which Cottam receives and immediately runs out of his cabin.
Back on the Titanic Phillips confirms to Bride that Cottam has gone to the captain with their position and resumes his task to see whether any other ships in the area are receiving with no luck Bride says, "Send SOS, it's the new call and it may be your last chance to send it". Phillips amused by this quip agrees and begins sending "SOS" Bride asks whether there has been any other responses and Phillips reveals that no other ship has responded suggesting that if any are they might be out of range to confirm. Looking over their communication chart he sees that various ships and stations should be in range.
Harold Cottam enters Captain Rostron's cabin with frantic energy lamenting in his monologue he had senior officers in hot pursuit attempting to prevent him speaking with the captain believing the message to be a prank. His powerful sense of will and persistence convinces the captain to take notice, and he is convinced to issue orders to the bridge to turn the ship around and provides the ships coordinates to Cottam to transmit to the Titanic.
On board the Titanic Phillips receives Cottam's message and sends Bride to find the captain and tell him that the Carpathia is heading for them and would be there in about four hours. Phillips is disrupted from his work by the loud noise of steam escaping the funnels above the wireless cabin. Soon after Bride returns looking grave concerning Phillips, he asks him what he saw and whether he told the captain of their news. After Bride confirms he gave the message to Smith and how he reacted to the news without telling Bride in words the true extent of the damage it is enough for Bride to realise that they do not have four hours and should they not be rescued before then they would find themselves in the waters of the Atlantic. Phillips persevering with the news that they were now facing a probable death complains of the noise interfering with his ability to receive the messages being sent from other ships. Bride explains the cause of the noise is the air escaping through the expansion joint just outside the cabin due to the water rushing into the hollow of the ship and the steam being vented to prevent the engines from exploding. He confirms he would address it with the captain when the captain enters and asks for an update. Phillips provides further communications from other ships like the Frankfurt, Baltic, Celtic and so on. The captain updates the coordinates to 41.46 N., 50.14 W. confirming that she will not last much longer than half an hour. Bride points out the issue of the noise of the steam and the captain confirms he would see what he could do. After he leaves Bride and Phillips are left to take in the news discussing the difference of around 50 miles between the old and new coordinates. Phillips hopes that they are now the correct coordinates when Bride breaks the fourth wall and confirms to the audience that they too are wrong. Cottam resumes communication with the Titanic letting them know that the Olympic is trying to communicate with them, Phillips responds that he is struggling to read them due to the noise. Cottam offers to assist in reading and urges Phillips to call the Olympic and then the Baltic to which Phillips confirms. Bride urges Phillips again to use "SOS" noting the stress and the cooling temperatures of the cabin Bride offers some comfort to Phillips in placing an overcoat on him and asks what the latest message received was.
Harold Cottam sits in his wireless room realising the grave fate of those who are aboard the Titanic. He explains the ways in which the Carpathia are preparing to help the doomed vessel. By doubling the amount of crew on deck to scan for ice, how they have cut all the additional amenities, including the heating and hot water to put everything into the engines and how the engines are going too fast and are at risk of damage. The preparation of supplies, soup and coffee and rope netting and ladders ready to be used. Beds are also being made up in every public space to accommodate an additional 2000 people. He reveals that they are running at 17 1/2 knots but admits that he knows it is not going to be enough.