Go With The Slow

New Zealand jumps on the captivating, if time-consuming, bandwagon of televising cross-country journeys.

- Russell Brown

Imagine a TV programme as a literal journey – as every minute of, say, a long train trip unfolds on screen, endlessly present and without the bother of commentary. Well, you don’t have to imagine it: it’s a thing.

The “slow television” trend has been building – slowly, obviously – since 2009, when the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK aired the seven-hour surprise hit Bergensbanen minute by minute – train journey across Southern Norway.

Successors included 2011’s 134-hour live broadcast of a coastal voyage from Bergen to Kirkenes, which was watched at some point by half of the country’s population.