BBC Slow TV for Christmas - a Slow Odyssey: Turtle, Eagle, Cheetah

In The Radio Times - it isn't Christmas without one

UPDATE FOR BROADCAST: Wild Wanderings will be shown on BBC4 on Wednesday 27th December at 9pm GMT.

The BBC media centre reports on a new Slow TV offering for Christmas 2017:

"Turtle, Eagle, Cheetah: a Slow Odyssey".

As a very special Christmas treat, BBC Four is taking viewers on a magical and mysterious journey into the natural world - by riding on-board three incredible animals. Unfettered by human camera teams, the audience will be transported deep into these different animal worlds - land and sea and sky.

Using the latest on-board wearable technology, pioneered by leading Scientists and the BBC’s Natural History Unit – Three Cheetah must work together in their search for prey, navigating the Bushveld of Namibia. A green turtle comes face to face with the residents of Indonesia’s most beautiful coral reefs. Whilst a White tailed Sea Eagle soars above the rugged West Coast of Scotland, battling the force of nature.

With embedded graphics giving further insight into the animals’ worlds, their adventures and encounters turns into an immersive and mesmerising experience".

It adds to the wider portfolio of the BBC's Slow TV collection which includes All Aboard! The Bus Journey and All Aboard! The Sleigh Ride.

Also in December, 12 hours Supermarket Slow TV from Finland,  and anticipating a 3 day train journey across Australia.

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You can also watch my "What is Norwegian Slow TV?" documentary and join our community of Slow TV fans, thinkers and filmmmakers on Facebook.

First Published on 29th November 2017, updated 16th December 2017.

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The Advent Candle - Slow TV - Part 1

A Slow TV style broadcast has been happening on my YouTube Channel.

Here's the recording of The Advent Candle, 2nd to 5th December inclusive, in real time. Added incense for dramatic smoke effect!

The next instalment is live at 19:30 GMT 7th December, for 5th December through to 7th inclusive. It takes about 15 minutes to burn through each day, so expected broadcast length is around 30 minutes.

Watch as the flame edges its way down the candle, nibbling its way through the numbers.

Contemplate Advent, Christmas or Yule, the darkening of the year, The Rebirth of The Sun or The Birth of The Son, or all of them, light in the darkness, hope against the odds, all of them or none of them.

Music courtesy Tony Longworth.

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More BBC Slow TV for Christmas 2016

Thursday 29th December on BBC4, 21:00

The Beeb are once again treating us with some Slow TV for Christmas as The Flying Scotsman gives us an hour of The Severn Valley Railway:

"BBC Four viewers can sit back and enjoy a sixty minute trip from the driving seat of the Flying Scotsman, with a signal-by-signal guide to life on the footplate of the nation's favourite steam engine. In a special one-off slow tv treat for Christmas, the crew take locomotive 60103 down the Severn Valley Railway, cutting through stunning landscapes on a journey from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster, in the midlands of England.

Commissioned by Clare Paterson, Commissioning Editor, Documentaries. It is being made by Roger Keech Productions Ltd."

Some footage from 2009 of The Flying Scotsman by Roger Keech Productions Ltd at this link here.

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Jingle Bells! Slow TV Sleigh Ride on BBC4 this Christmas Eve

This year, Christmas Eve TV will have a most welcome addition to ease us into the festive feel. Continuing their exploration of Slow TV, the BBC heads to Norway - the country which first brought us Slow TV broadcasts.

Christmas Eve: think snowy landscapes, reindeer, jingling of bells while (hopefully) settling down to a cosy evening. BBC4 will be giving the opportunity to become mindful of such things - even if it's actually to accompany some last minute present wrapping and preparing the vegetables for Christmas dinner...

Over two hours the camera will show the scenery around Karasjok (for the English tongue, pronounced Karra-shock) in the northern Norwegian county of Finnmark. Like All Aboard! The Canal Trip broadcast in April, All Aboard! The Sleigh Ride will use a single camera to relate a continuous steady journey - the subject this time being a winter wonderland by reindeer and sledge.

Originally cited as being filmed in Finland, the announcement that it was filmed in Norway is a surprise - however Karasjok is only fifteen minutes' drive from the border with Finland (one assumes with snow tyres and fair conditions, being 200 miles into the Arctic Circle).

Taking in an old postal route used by the Sami people of northern Norway, Finland, Sweden and the Kola peninsula of Russia, the documentary experience (for that is one way of understanding Slow TV) will add embedded graphics without voice over and verbal commentary or dramatising music to suggest to us how we ought to be feeling as we watch. The information we take from such a documentary is what we draw from the experience of sharing the journey.

Produced by ITV Studios' The Garden Productions, All Aboard! The Sleigh Ride will be broadcast on BBC4 on 24th December - Christmas Eve - from 8pm to 10pm and will hopefully add to the success of the Slow TV productions in the UK earlier in 2015.

For more Slow TV news, see the most recent newsletter.

The Norwegian creators of Slow TV are planning a week long broadcast of live reindeer migration for 2017; for some analysis of this and how it compares with the BBC 2 hour recorded broadcast, see this vlog I recorded back in September.

Ever wondered how Slow TV began? See this clip from a documentary I made about Slow TV:

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