State of Happiness

Original version

BBC ALBA

Drama

When a Norwegian fishing village becomes part of the 70s oil boom, everything changes.

Power, profit and politics. When a small Norwegian fishing village becomes part of the 70s oil boom, everything changes - but how much are the lives of families and friends worth?

Series 1

BBC Four HD

BBC Four

BBC ALBA HD

State of Happiness: Smoking Ban

Anne Regine Ellingsæter

Bart Edwards

Amund Harboe

Malene Wadel

Per Kjerstad

Pia Tjelta

Vegar Hoel

Mette Marit Bolstad

Pal Jackman

Petter Naess

State of Happiness: Series 1: Smoking Ban

Smoking Ban

BBC Four - State of Happiness, Series 1, Smoking Ban

The mayor in Stavanger speculates on whether the Americans might have found oil.

Drama series. Phillips Petroleum introduces a smoking ban on Ocean Viking oil rig, and the mayor in Stavanger speculates on whether the Americans might have found oil.

Phillips Petroleum introduces a smoking ban on the oil rig Ocean Viking, and the mayor in Stavanger speculates on whether the Americans might have found oil. Toril Torstensen makes an unavoidable choice.

In Norwegian with English subtitles.

State of Happiness: Series 1

Knowledge, arts, music and culture from the UK and the world.

BBC Four reflects arts, music and culture with an ambitious range of intellectually and culturally enriching programmes, taking an expert and in-depth approach to its subjects.

Drama set in Stavanger in 1969. What happens next after a final attempt to find oil?

Drama set in Stavanger, Norway, in the summer of 1969, that follows what happens following a last-ditch attempt to strike oil.

Drama set in the summer of 1969 in the small coastal town of Stavanger. International oil companies have been test drilling in Stavanger for years, but nothing has been found and they are now in the process of leaving. 

Phillips Petroleum have been contracted to drill one final hole, but the company is reluctant to throw good money after bad and they send an ambitious young lawyer to Stavanger to wind things up. The town, however, is desperate for one last chance – it lives off fish and the North Sea is emptying out.  

In the end, Phillips finally agrees to try one more hole, and the night before Christmas 1969 the gas flare at the Ocean Viking is lit. The largest sub-sea oil basin in history has just been discovered and everything is about to change.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

State of Happiness

Series 1

Smoking Ban

Contributors

Genres

Brand

Series

BBC ALBA

About BBC ALBA