How to Watch Sherlock Season 4 online
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.
Sherlock Season 4 is upon us and will have its first airing in the United Kingdom on New Years Day.
After a year away one of the biggest shows of recent years is back. UK residents can tune into their TV on the 1st January and see what happens after Sherlock announced that Moriarty was dead.
If you’re from any other country in the world then officially you’re going to have to wait longer until it’s shown on a local TV network or in certain countries you won’t be able to view at all because it won’t be shown in your country.
The good news is there is a really simple way to watch Sherlock Season 4 online from any country in the world at exactly the same time as UK viewers using a simple piece of software called a VPN.
In this guide I’m going to show you how to use a VPN so you can watch Sherlock Season 4 as early as possible and be ahead of spoilers and other information which could ruin your viewing experience if you waited for it to be shown officially in your country.
How to Watch Sherlock Season 4 online
UK viewers can tune into BBC One at 8:30 pm to watch the start of Season 4 of Sherlock or use the online service BBC iPlayer.
If you’re outside the UK and you try to watch online on BBC iPlayer you’ll be blocked with a message similar to the following.
The reason you’re blocked is because the BBC iPlayer knows you’re outside the UK and they want to make you wait until Season 4 is shown in your country. It’s also because BBC iPlayer is restricted to viewing from within the UK.
By using a small piece of software called a VPN or Virtual Private Network you can alter your online location to appear somewhere else.
To watch Sherlock Season 4 you’ll need to alter your location to the United Kingdom but you need not worry too much because the VPN software does all the hard work, all you have to do is select the country and hit connect.
Below you can find out where to get a good VPN service to watch Sherlock Season 4 and a more in-depth guide on how to use it.
Where to get a VPN
The main purpose of a VPN service is to protect your privacy and as online privacy is now a big concern for many people it means the choice of VPN services is wide and varied.
Not all VPN services are suitable to watch Sherlock Season 4 online because they’re just too slow to stream video from the BBC iPlayer website all the way to your location and the further away you are from the UK the more imperative it is that you get a good VPN service.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been testing a selection of VPN services to find out which work best with BBC iPlayer and which will be best for you to watch Sherlock Season 4 come the 1st January 2017.
The following three providers are my choices in order. Just click on one of their names to visit their website and sign-up.
A good VPN service will cost between $6 – $10 per month depending on how long you sign-up for and the longer subscription period you take the cheaper the price will be.
Once you’ve signed up to one of the VPN services above read the section below if you need help on how to use it to watch Sherlock Season 4 online.
How to use the VPN
Once you’ve signed up to the VPN service the hard work is almost all done.
All you need to do next is download the correct software or app for your device. Install and run it. Login when required and then select a United Kingdom server and press Connect.
The VPN software or app will do all the hard work and get you connected to the UK. Once connected any website you visit will think you are in the UK and so all you need to do then is visit the BBC iPlayer website at 20:30 on January 1st, 2017.
Below is a step-by-step guide for both Windows and Android using my recommended provider ExpressVPN.
Windows:
- Visit the ExpressVPN website and press Get ExpressVPN to sign-up.
- Follow the sign-up process.
- Download the Windows software from the “Products” area of the ExpressVPN website.
- Install and Run the software.
- Login when required.
- Press Choose Location and then press United Kingdom.
- Press Connect.
The ExpressVPN software will now connect. It should take around 15 seconds and will inform you when connected.
Once connected you can head over to the BBC iPlayer website at 20:30 on 1st January 2017 and stream the first episode of Season 4.
The rest of the season will be shown each Sunday after and you can use the same VPN package from ExpressVPN to watch those too.
Android / iOS:
- Visit the ExpressVPN website and press Get ExpressVPN to sign-up.
- Follow the sign-up process.
- Visit the Google Play Store or Apple Store and search “ExpressVPN”
- Install the app.
- Launch the app and log in when required.
- Press Choose Location and then United Kingdom.
The app will now make connection. Once connected you can visit the BBC iPlayer website.
