These days we want everything fast. Fast food, fast service, fast action movies. If it isn’t fast, we don’t want it. This is why we were very surprised to learn about a new style of television programme which is the exact opposite of fast. It’s been given the name, Slow TV.

It all began in 2009 at Norway’s government-owned radio and TV station, NRK. A TV producer there called Thomas Hellum had made a programme about a railway journey on the Bergen Railway Line. They filmed the whole seven-hour journey from start to finish using four different cameras. There was lots of footage. Like most TV travel programmes, this would usually be cut down to about 60 minutes of viewing. However, Thomas Hellum thought that so much of the journey looked interesting, it would be a shame to cut it. He spoke to his senior management and suggested they showed the whole seven-hour journey. To his great surprise, they replied, “Why not?”

The whole seven-hour programme was shown on national TV in November 2009. Executives at NRK thought that it would be interesting for Norway’s train enthusiasts, but no-one else. To their enormous surprise, 1.6 million viewers tuned in. In television terms, that may not be a big number, but when you learn that Norway’s total population is about five million, 32 per cent of Norway watched some, or all, of a seven-hour train journey. Slow TV had arrived.

Since then, NRK has made other Slow TV programmes.  Following the Bergen train journey, they showed a cruise ship on a 3,000-kilometre journey along the coast of Norway that took 134 hours and 42 minutes. Instead of just watching the journey on TV, people started coming out to wave at the ship as it sailed by. Others tuned in to see if they could identify their friends waving from the coastline. It was another huge success watched by 3.2 million viewers.

So why is Slow TV so popular? Thomas Hellum explained that he thinks viewers find watching the programmes very soothing. They also invite their friends into their homes to watch the programmes together. Watching becomes a social event. Because the programmes are so long, it does not matter if you talk to your friends and miss a few minutes.

Not everyone agrees. One online commentator wrote, “Watch a river go by, read a book, or watch a fire burning, but turn off the TV. Turn off the computer, turn off the smartphone, put away the iPad. Go outside and have a real experience.”

Maybe this person does not live in Norway. It’s really cold during the winter. Staying inside by the fire and watching the world go by sounds like a much better idea.

QUESTION:

Take a look at Norwegian Slow TV

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