SBS Viceland Is Airing a Very Extended 17-Hour Doco on the Journey of The Ghan

It'll feature the entire 2979 kilometres of the train's trip from Adelaide to Darwin (well, minus the sections at night).
Tom Clift
January 10, 2018

You demanded it, Australia. After apparently hypnotising the country with The Ghan, a three hour documentary about a train travelling from Adelaide to Darwin via Alice Springs, SBS Viceland has announced it'll be broadcasting the extended edition of the film, which clocks in at a whopping 17 hours. Take that, Return of the King director's cut!

The initial three-hour cut — billed as Australia's first foray into 'slow TV' — was a massive surprise hit for the network, drawing an average of 583,000 viewers. That makes it Viceland's biggest hit of the past 12 months. The doco was also widely discussed on social media, with #TheGhan trending nationally last Sunday night.

The extended version will air this Sunday, January 14 starting at the bright and early time of 2.40am. It'll feature the entire 2979 kilometres, minus the sections at night when the screen would just be black, which, even by slow TV standards, doesn't sound all that interesting.

In the meantime, you can catch up with the (relatively) short version of The Ghan via SBS On Demand.

Published on January 10, 2018 by Tom Clift
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