Mint Pictures has produced two more slow TV documentaries on the back of ‘The Ghan: Australia’s Greatest Train Journey’, which was a ratings hit when it aired on SBS last January.
At the launch of its 2019 slate this week, SBS unveiled its plan to screen more four slow TV shows in prime time across the four weekends in January.
Mint Pictures has produced two of them: ‘The Indian Pacific: Australia’s Longest Train Journey’ and ‘The Kimberley Cruise: Australia’s Last Great Wilderness’.
Both shows will screen for three hours on SBS, with much longer versions playing on the VICE channel.
A 17-hour version of ‘The Ghan’ was the highest rating show on VICE when it aired last January while the three-hour version accrued some 715,000 viewers – the highest rating show in the previous 12 months on SBS.
‘The Ghan’ also trended number one on Twitter and polarised viewers and the media, with some suggesting it was the worst show on earth, while others reckoned it should win the Gold Logie.
The two new slow TV shows were directed by Adam Kay, Mint’s managing director. ‘The Indian Pacific’ was produced by Billy Baxter while ‘The Kimberley Cruise’ was produced by Daniel Whelan.
Mint is currently working on more iterations of slow TV, a genre that has been described as an antidote to the fast-paced world of instant gratification.
