How to watch British TV in Australia
Chris
Chris, a UK-born media connoisseur, is an expert in watching international TV. Known as "The Global Screen Wanderer", he has travelled extensively across the globe with long stints away from home. With over 10 years of experience he has become the go-to guru for streaming content from home and abroad.
There are an estimated 1.4 million Brits in Australia with many more travelling there all the time.
Australia has the biggest number of British expats anywhere else in the world and their close neighbour New Zealand has nearly another quarter of a million.
With so many British people being in Australia, there is high demand for British things from home especially when it comes to entertainment.
It goes without saying that British TV is considered some of the best in the world and shows such as Top Gear, Downton Abbey and Dr Who are exported far and wide around the world.
Australians as much as British Expats like nothing more than British TV and one of the best ways to access it is by using the online streaming service such as BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4, My5 etc.
Unfortunately if you’re not in the UK then these services are blocking if you try to access directly.
Thankfully there is a way to access them all while you’re in Australia so whether you’re a British expat or an Australian you’ll be able to watch British TV in Australia simply by following our guide.
What stops me streaming British TV in Australia
The first thing a streaming website such as BBC iPlayer does when you visit is it checks your location. Your location is given away by something known as an IP Address. Each internet connection is assigned an IP Address and from this any website you visit knows you’re in Australia or wherever you are in the world.
When you visit one of the British streaming websites you’ll be stopped from viewing with a block message similar to the one below.
Stopping you from viewing in Australia.
A totally legal product called a VPN or Virtual Private Network exists to protect user privacy. One of the by-products of a VPN service is it allows you to change your IP address to that of any other country.
Once you have an IP address of the UK then any UK streaming website will stream you TV shows in Australia.
VPN services are really easy to use and below I’ll show you where you can get one and how to use it.
How to get a VPN service
VPN services are really popular these days used by thousands of people to protect their privacy and access TV from back home.
The great news is they’re extremely cheap and will set you back about US$5-10 per month (Approx £3.50-£7.00 / AUS$7-14) and can be even cheaper if you decide to sign up for a yearly package.
These days VPN services are offered by hundreds of different companies.
Like anything in life, there are good companies who have been around a long time and offer a decent service and other newer companies who are just after making a fast buck and aren’t all that reliable.
Due to the distance between Australia and the UK you need to make sure you sign up to a quality VPN provider to limit the chance of buffering and lagging due to the distance. Three we’ve tested and recommend for watching British TV in Australia are as follows.
- ExpressVPN – My recommended provider!
- CyberGhost
- NordVPN
All you have to do is click on one of the three names above or the green link to visit our recommended provider and sign up.
Once you’ve signed up keep reading below as our step-by-step guide will show you how to use the VPN service to watch British TV in Australia.
How to unblock British TV in Australia
All three VPN providers above work in a similar way and they offer software and apps that work near enough in the same way.
Once you’ve downloaded the software or app for your device all you need to do is connect to a UK server. This is usually achieved by clicking the UK option on their software or app and then Connect.
As an example I’ll walk you through the process using ExpressVPN but as I said it is pretty much exactly the same regardless of which provider you signed up with.
The app for Android and iPhone/iPad are extremely easy to use, after you’ve entered your username and password you basically find the UK option and hit connect. Nothing more. You then visit any UK streaming website or use their app if you already have it installed on your phone or tablet.
If you’re using a PC or Mac the software is really simple to use, just download and install and then run it. You then want to press Selected Location and then press United Kingdom.
Get UK TV in Australia using ExpressVPN.
The software will take care of all the magic for you and get connected. Once connected you just need to visit a UK streaming website. Below is a good selection of TV streaming services to get you started.
Free
Subscription
When you’ve finished watching just disconnect and carry on using your internet as normal. Next time you want to watch simply reconnect. There is no limit on how many times you can disconnect and reconnect. Enjoy!
30-day money back guarantee
Image courtesy of domdeen at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
why isn’t eastenders on this week on uk tv australia
It has potentially been delayed due to the death of the Queen in the UK.