Mint’s second foray into slow TV for SBS – ‘The Indian Pacific: Australia’s Longest Train Journey’ – was another ratings hit for the multicultural broadcaster with an average of 430,000 viewers and a peak of 700,000 when it aired on Sunday night.
Having polarised the nation after ‘The Ghan: Australia’s Greatest Train Journey’ premiered in January 2018, ‘The Indian Pacific’ was cheered on its route from Perth to Sydney by an army of slow TV fans, trending No 1 on Twitter as the train disappeared into a cloud in the Blue Mountains en route to Central Station.
“My resting heart rate has dropped by 25 percent and we are only 40 minutes in,” said one tweet. “My hubby and I are going to put the kids to bed in shifts so we don’t miss anything,” quipped another.
ABC news ran a story titled, ‘Slow TV show manages to be both boring and profound’
While The Guardian ran a story saying: “It may sound boring. In many ways, it is. But slow TV is designed to be calming: a cocktail of beautiful scenery, historical facts and the slow, nudging propulsion of constant movement.”
The Indian Pacific was the first of SBS’s ‘Slow Summer’ – four weekends of slow TV – two of which were produced by Mint Pictures.
This Sunday ‘The Kimberley Cruise: Australia’s Last Great Wilderness’ will go to air at 7.30pm.
Longer versions of both this and ‘The Indian Pacific’ will air on SBS’s second channel, VICE.
Both the ‘Indian Pacific’ and the ‘Kimberley Cruise’ were directed by Adam Kay, Mint’s managing director. ‘The Indian Pacific’ was written and produced by Bill Baxter and Dan Goldberg while ‘The Kimberley Cruise’ was written and produced by Daniel Whelan and Dan Goldberg.
