Race Across the World sends pairs across a continent with no phones and very little cash, checkpoint to checkpoint, on whatever buses, boats and trains they can find. It's gripping television, but from a flat in Málaga or a farmhouse in the Dordogne, BBC iPlayer won't play it.

The celebrity series is back on BBC One on Wednesday 28 October, and the BBC has already said the original series returns next spring. Here's how to watch both from wherever you've settled.

Borneo to Melbourne: What the BBC Has Confirmed

The fourth series of Celebrity Race Across the World starts at 8pm on Wednesday 28 October, on BBC One and iPlayer. That's 9pm in Spain, France and Italy, and 8pm in Portugal. There are six hour-long episodes.

Four pairs race 7,500 km from Kuching, in Sarawak on Borneo, to Melbourne, through five checkpoints in three countries, on a budget of £26 each a day. Sam Ryder travels with his best friend and tour manager Kaz, Jeff Stelling with his son Matt, Ella Eyre with her childhood friend Nana, and Princess Andre with her brother Junior.

Then it's the original series' turn. The BBC has confirmed it'll return to BBC One and iPlayer next spring, though it hasn't named a date or a route. Series six ran from Palermo to Mongolia, and all six series are on iPlayer now, alongside the first three celebrity ones.

A Travel Show You Can't Watch While You're Away

Once you're abroad, iPlayer won't play the show, and there's no local way round that. The new celebrity series is made for BBC One and iPlayer, and we couldn't find a broadcaster in Spain, France, Italy or Portugal showing it. Where older series turn up overseas at all, it's a season or two, years behind.

So for most British households abroad, iPlayer is the only home the new series has. And it's a show people talk about for days afterwards: who took the slow boat, who blew the budget on a taxi, who's out in front at the checkpoint. Leave it too long and someone back home will tell you.

Why BBC iPlayer Stops at the Border

iPlayer decides where you are from the IP address your connection hands over, before it plays a second of anything. A Spanish or Cypriot address gets the message that iPlayer only works in the UK, however British the account behind it.

Every device in the house shares that one connection, so they all get the same answer. The television, the laptop and the phone are all, as far as iPlayer can tell, somewhere outside Britain.

Why a VPN App Rarely Lasts the Series

A VPN app is the usual first try, and it'll often get you through an episode or two. The trouble is the address it lends you. The big providers put thousands of customers on shared servers in commercial data centres, and iPlayer blocks those ranges in batches. Switch to another UK server and you've usually just moved to the next address on the same list.

That's why a VPN app so often gives up halfway through a run, just when you care who reaches Melbourne first. If you've paid for one and watched it fail, our guide to why ExpressVPN, NordVPN and Surfshark stop working on iPlayer explains what you've been running into.

The Fix: a Router With a UK Residential IP

iPlayer is built to serve an ordinary British household, so the answer is to look like one. A pre-configured SmartHub VPN router connects through a UK residential IP, an address issued on a real British broadband line rather than a block of data-centre servers. There's nothing for a blocklist to catch, so iPlayer just gets on with the episode.

It works at the router, so the whole household is covered at once: the smart TV, a Fire TV Stick, tablets and phones. Nobody has to install anything or remember to switch it on before eight o'clock. And it doesn't unlock anything you haven't got. It only changes what your connection looks like, so your own iPlayer account works the way it does at home.

If you're on the move rather than settled, the SmartHub Travel (£130) is the one to pack. It can take its internet from the Wi-Fi where you're staying, so a rented apartment becomes a UK connection. Our guide to choosing a SmartHub router compares the four models.

On the Big Screen With a Freely Box

A race across a continent is wasted on a phone. If your television abroad doesn't have a working iPlayer app, or you'd rather not rely on it, a Freely box behind the router puts BBC One back on the sofa. Both boxes we supply, the Netgem PLEIO and the Manhattan Aero, carry the live UK channels and BBC iPlayer, so Wednesday night plays the way it would at home.

If the picture stutters rather than refusing to play, that's a separate problem with its own fix. Our guide to watching BBC iPlayer abroad without buffering covers it.

Order in Time for 28 October

Because we ship hardware, the first episode sets the deadline. Order by Wednesday 21 October and UPS Express, which usually reaches Europe in one to three working days, should have the router with you and tested before the 28th. Or have it sent to a UK address with DPD, normally next-day after dispatch, and take it with you.

Order after that and the router may not arrive for episode one, but you won't have missed it. Every episode stays on iPlayer, so you can catch up on the opening night and watch the rest as they go out.

The router arrives pre-configured: plug it into your internet abroad, connect the television or Freely box, and open iPlayer as you would at home. The same setup carries The Traitors and Strictly Come Dancing, and it'll still be running when the original series comes back in the spring.

Watching Race Across the World Abroad: FAQs

Can I watch Race Across the World abroad?

Not on an ordinary foreign connection. The original series and the celebrity series are both on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, and iPlayer checks your IP address before it plays anything, so from outside the UK it refuses. A VPN router with a UK residential IP makes your connection look like a British household, and iPlayer works as it does at home.

When does Celebrity Race Across the World start?

The fourth celebrity series starts on BBC One and iPlayer at 8pm on Wednesday 28 October 2026, with six hour-long episodes racing from Borneo to Melbourne. The BBC has also confirmed that the original series returns next spring, though it hasn't given a date.

Can I watch past series on iPlayer from abroad?

Yes, once your connection is on a UK residential IP. All six series of Race Across the World and the first three celebrity series are currently on iPlayer, so there's plenty to catch up on before the new one starts.

Why does my VPN app keep getting blocked on iPlayer?

Because of the address it hands you, not the app itself. Consumer VPNs route huge numbers of people through shared data-centre IP ranges, and iPlayer recognises and blocks those ranges. A UK residential IP is a real home-broadband address, so there's nothing for a blocklist to match.

Final Thoughts

Race Across the World is a programme families watch together, week by week, and argue about in between. Living abroad shouldn't make you the one who's three episodes behind.

A VPN router on a UK residential IP puts BBC One back on your own television, and every other screen in the house, for the whole celebrity series and the original series in the spring.

Every Checkpoint, From Anywhere