The BBC is lining up a new series of “slow television” shows after nearly a million people tuned into a BBC Four documentary that featured nothing more than two hours of footage captured from the front of a bus travelling around the Yorkshire Dales.

All Aboard! The Country Bus, which aired at 8pm on Monday, followed the number 830 “Northern Dalesman” bus along a 40-mile route around the picturesque national park, and was seen by an average of 800,000 viewers.

In a coup for BBC Four, more people tuned into the niche digital channel during the period from 8pm to 10pm than watched Channel 5, which aired a documentary about Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun, while Film4, which showed Hollywood blockbuster The Bourne Legacy, attracted less than half the audience of the bus journey.