The Slow TV and 'Have I Got News for You' Connection

Guessing the news story... 
Slow TV introduced on 
Have I Got News for You

You can tell when something's getting noticed when 'Have I Got News for You' finds a moment to satirise and celebrate it. To my delight, last week it was the turn of Slow TV to have a couple minutes of gentle mocking. Good publicity indeed, and not many people would know this, but a 'Have I Got News for You' connection already exists for Slow TV. Though you might have guessed that from the header.

When NRK2 screened the first train journey program which came to be labelled 'Slow TV', over on NRK1, the Norwegian version of the British comedy format was being shown. "Nytt på nytt" as it's called in Norway, attracts over a million viewers each Friday evening.

Bergensbanen was 
from Bergen to Oslo....

It was at the end of the broadcast on 27th November 2009, as the train journey from Bergen to Oslo (not Oslo to Bergen as HIGNFY's script and graphic suggested) was well underway, that the host commented that if you turn over now, the train journey is now at such and such a station on NRK2.

"Have I Got News for You"
to "Slow TV"

With that, a good number of viewers switched over. This graphic, used courtesy of NRK in my documentary about Slow TV, shows the moment viewers switched over and joined the televisual journey of Bergensbanen. A plug from the show in Norway helped pique the interest of viewers in Norway; one may hope that (although several days later) HIGNFY helps push BBC Four's Slow TV Canal Boat out even further.

The episode is available until late May 2015 on BBCi Player.

Slow Television - The Slow TV Blog