How to watch British TV in Spain
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.
In this guide I’m going to show you the incredibly easy way to watch British TV in Spain.
Official figures state there are around 300,000 British people living in Spain but claims as high as 700,000 from the BBC suggest numbers may be over double official estimates.
Regardless of the exact number of Brits in Spain the truth is there are an awful lot.
While Spain has great weather, a slower pace of life and something most Brits find more alluring than the cold drizzle of the UK it goes without saying that Spanish TV just doesn’t compare to that of the UK.
No matter how good Spanish TV is or could be it will never been a replacement for classics from your home country.
So let’s find out how you can watch British TV in Spain and keep up with all your favourite programmes.
How to watch British TV in Spain
The best way to watch British TV in Spain is to do so on your computer, laptop, tablet or phone using one of the live or catch-up TV services such as BBC iPlayer or ITV Player.
If you try to visit any of the British TV streaming sites while in Spain then you’ll be blocked from viewing because the websites know that you’re not in the UK.
Instead of seeing the programmes you want to watch you’ll see a message blocking you similar to the one below.
An example of a block message you may see.
To watch British TV online you’re going to need to sign up for a service called a VPN or Virtual Private Network.
A VPN is service that allows you to protect your online privacy and as part of this it allows you to alter the location your computer reports you’re from.
When you visit any of the British TV streaming services they can see you’re in Spain but with a VPN you can alter this so that you appear in the United Kingdom.
VPN services are available from a large range of companies and below I’ll take a look at some of the best to watch British TV in Spain.
Where can I get a VPN
A quick search of Google for “VPN” will turn up thousands of options of VPN services which can be confusing.
Unfortunately not all VPN services are fast enough to stream video from the UK to Spain so you need to be careful when considering which service to sign-up to.
I’ve tested some of the better services and found the following three to the best options to watch British TV in Spain.
Just choose one of the three services above and visit their site by clicking on their name or you can visit my most recommended service by clicking the white button.
Sign-up to the service and then read below where I’ll show you how to use the service to watch British TV in Spain.
How to use the VPN
A VPN will allow you to watch British TV in Spain on a range of devices.
All three providers above work with Windows PC and Mac computers and laptops but also with Android and iOS tablets and phones too. ExpressVPN also works with the Amazon Fire TV Stick.
To get started you should download either the VPN software for your Windows or Mac computer from the website of the VPN service you signed up to or you can download their app from the Google Play or Apple Store.
You then need to connect to a United Kingdom “Server”. Once connected you can visit any British online TV service and rather than be blocked as seen earlier you’ll now be able to watch catch-up and live TV in Spain.
Below is a quick step-by-step guide for Windows PC using my recommended provider ExpressVPN.
ExpressVPN:
- Visit the ExpressVPN website.
- Click Get ExpressVPN and Sign-up.
- Click the Products area of their website.
- Download the Windows software.
- Install and Run the software.
- Press Selected Location and then press United Kingdom.
- Press Connect.
Unblock UK TV in Spain.
After about 15 seconds you will get a notification that the software has connected.
This means your connection is now going via the UK and any websites that you visit will think you’re in the UK even though you’re really in Spain.
You can now access any UK TV service or any UK website and watch as if you were in the UK.
UK TV Websites
If you’re looking for some websites that show British TV for use with the VPN service then check the list below.
Free-to-air:
Paid-TV:
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