The Ghan - Slow TV in Australia

This is NOT Australian Slow TV 

UPDATE FOR BROADCAST: The Ghan will be broadcast on an Australian prime-time TV slot, 7:30pm on Sunday 7th January 2018 on SBS.

Plenty of reviewers already anticipating some 'Weird TV', so it'll be fascinating to see how Slow TV is received Down Under.

The actual broadcast is a mere 3 hours long (not the 3 days journey), robbing the viewer of most of the actual journey. Nevertheless expect some fabulous Aussie real-time Slowness to ease in the New Year.

A potentially kick-arse Slow TV project is set to arrive in Australia during December 2017. That's kick-arse Slow TV style in an aussie accent and attitude, by the way.

The Ghan is a train journey, bisecting Australia, travelling near 3,000 km (approaching 1,850 miles) from Darwin in the Northern Territory to Adelaide in South Australia. There must be return trains, too, so feel free to reverse the direction if needed.

If it is broadcast continually on traditional TV  ("Linear TV"), it will thrash the proverbials off Norwegian Slow TV train journeys, as it will take three days. Not a mere poxy 7 hours. But it remains to be seen where it is broadcast in terms of channels and platforms, and if it is continuous. 

The Norgies (Australian slang for Norwegians, as I was told in a curry house in Trondheim in 2014) haven't even managed a day long continual broadcast of a train journey. Though they did pull off that world-record breaking ferry journey, Hurtigruten, taking five and a quarter days.

Can't wait until the New Year for some new Slow TV? The BBC has some wildlife Slow TV up its sleeve for the Christmas TV Schedule with Wild Wanderings.

Hopefully it will be available online, too, so those of us in the Northern Hemisphere about to go through the cold and dark of midwinter can enjoy the Australian midsummer.

If you're going to make Slow TV, give us the whole story!

Hopefully this will be a proper Aussie train going walkabout all over the SBS schedule and completely kicking everything else off. Could we even get Ozzy Man Reviews in on it? Let's see him keep up a commentary for three days. I think I can hear his response in my head.

Mint Pictures was commissioned by SBS (Special Broadcasting Service) in Australia to produce The Ghan, a transcontinental train journey, which will also feature archival material.

The Slow TV Blog will carry more information as and when it becomes apparent. 

First published 1st November 2017, updated 14th December.

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