The True Story Behind Atlantic Crossing
Atlantic Crossing, Masterpiece PBS's latest royal-centric period drama, follows real-life members of Norwegian royal family, through their experiences during WWII, but how close does the story hew to history?
Writer and creator Alexander Eik is very specific in using the phrase "inspired by true events" when referring to the series; this isn't a documentary, and he isn't selling it that way.
"We made very serious efforts to achieve historical credibility. But Atlantic Crossing is a fictionalized drama inspired by true events. That's [why] we labeled this show, 'inspired by true events,'" he said during this year's Television Critics Association press tour.
"But the overall story of Atlantic Crossing is true," he continued, "that Crown Princess Märtha had more access to President Roosevelt than any other person, save for his advisers, up until his death, and that she made a significant effort to help Norway during the war."
Research for this project was extensive. "It was a huge task," Eik said. "The history [of] World War II is a story of men. And it was really hard for us to find information on Märtha and what she was up to during her period in America, which lasted for the whole length of the war. So, we found lots of information on the Norwegian king and Märtha's husband, the crown prince, but to really find enough material on her, we really had to search high and low. And that's one of the reasons why it took us so long to piece this story together. It was kind of a detective work."
Eik made it clear that despite that fact-finding some portions of the series are fictionalized, both to fit the timeline of the television show, and because some private conversations, emotions, and intimate moments are unknowable and lost to time.
"Of course we do dramatize, and we have to cram five years of war history into an 8-hour drama. We need to simplify, but we used as many historical[ly] correct events as possible. But, of course, what happened in more private, intimate situations, nobody knows, so we had to imagine what happened behind closed doors," he said.
And he noted that while there's plenty of speculation about the nature of Crown Princess Märtha's relationship with FDR, very little is confirmed.
"Nobody knows how intimate they were or how romantic their relationship was," Eik said. "But we know for certain that President Roosevelt ... we found plenty of sources confirming that President Roosevelt was infatuated with Crown Princess Märtha, and some would even claim madly in love with her. But we have little clues about what she felt for him, so, we were forced to imagine what she felt. But we know that he was very infatuated with her."
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