How to Watch The Masked Singer UK Abroad on ITVX
The Masked Singer only really works on the night. The whole show is a guessing game, and the answer is all over the internet the moment the mask comes off.
If you're watching from Spain, Portugal or anywhere else outside the UK, there's a second problem before you even get to the guessing: ITVX won't play. Here's why, and how to have it working on the family television before the new series starts.
A Show Built Around the Reveal
Most Saturday-night television is happy to be watched on Sunday. This one isn't. Every week a famous face comes out from under a ridiculous costume, and by the time the credits roll the name is on news sites, social media and the family group chat.
Watch a day late from abroad and you've lost the point of it. The fun is shouting the wrong name at the screen along with everyone else, not reading the right one in a headline over breakfast. That's especially true with children on the sofa, who are usually the loudest guessers in the room.
So the goal isn't just getting ITVX to open. It's having it play live, on the same evening as the UK, for the whole run.
What ITV Has Said About the New Series
ITV has confirmed The Masked Singer returns in 2027, on ITV1 and ITVX. Joel Dommett is back as host, and the panel gets a shake-up: Alan Carr leads a new team of rival guessers against the regular panel of Davina McCall, Mo Gilligan, Maya Jama and Jonathan Ross.
What ITV hasn't announced is a start date. The last few series ran on Saturday nights through January and February, which is why the entertainment press expects the same slot, but that's an expectation, not a date. We'll update this page as soon as ITV confirms one.
In the meantime, series three to seven are on ITVX as box sets, subscription-free, so there's plenty to catch up on once you're set up.
Why ITVX Says No Once You're Abroad
ITVX is licensed for the UK, and it checks the IP address your connection presents before anything plays. An address from a Spanish, French or Cypriot network gets the message that ITVX is only available in the UK, and the programme doesn't start.
Your account doesn't come into it. A British ITVX login is still a British login on holiday or in a villa you've owned for years; it's the connection underneath that's changed. And because everything in the house shares that connection, the television, the tablet and the phones are all turned away together.
We go into the detail in our guide to watching ITVX abroad without getting blocked, but the address is the whole story.
Why a VPN App Struggles With Live ITV
A VPN app is the usual first attempt, and it may well play the first episode. The trouble starts a week or two in. The big consumer providers route thousands of people through shared servers in data centres, and ITVX blocks those address ranges in batches. Hop to another UK server and you've generally just moved to the next address waiting to be blocked.
On a live Saturday-night show, that can mean the stream dropping just before the reveal. And on a Freely television or box there's often nowhere to install a VPN app at all.
If you've already paid for a subscription and watched it give up, our guide to why ExpressVPN, NordVPN and Surfshark stop working on UK streaming explains what's been going on.
The Fix: a UK Residential IP on the Router
What ITVX wants to see is an ordinary British home, so give it one. A pre-configured SmartHub VPN router connects through a UK residential IP, an address issued on a real UK broadband line rather than a data-centre range. To ITVX it looks like a household in Leeds or Swindon, and the stream simply starts.
Because the router does the work, every screen in the house is covered at once, with nothing to install and nothing for anyone to switch on before the show. It doesn't add anything you don't already have, either. You bring your own ITVX account; the router only changes how your connection looks.
For a family home abroad, the mains-powered SmartHub Home (£115) or Pro (£154) suits a fixed setup. Our guide to choosing a SmartHub router walks through all four.
The Family Television, Not a Phone
A show this daft belongs on the big screen, with the whole family arguing in front of it. Both of the Freely boxes we supply, the Netgem PLEIO and the Manhattan Aero, carry ITV1 live alongside the ITVX app, so Saturday night behind the router plays the way it did at home.
The same setup carries the rest of ITV's big shows too. I'm a Celebrity is back on ITV1 and ITVX this autumn, so the router is earning its keep long before the first mask comes off, and Love Island: All Stars is due back in 2027.
Get Set Up Before the New Year
With no date from ITV yet, there's no cutoff to chase, which is the best kind of runway. Order now and the router is plugged in and tested long before the first episode, whenever it lands.
The one thing to plan around is Christmas. UPS Express usually reaches Europe in one to three working days, but bank holidays aren't working days, so the safe bet is to order well before Christmas rather than in the gap before New Year. Or have the router sent to a UK address by DPD, normally next-day after dispatch, and take it out with you.
It arrives pre-configured. Plug it into your internet abroad, connect the television or Freely box, and open ITVX as you would at home.
Watching The Masked Singer Abroad: FAQs
Can I watch The Masked Singer UK abroad?
Not on an ordinary overseas connection. The Masked Singer airs on ITV1 and streams on ITVX, and ITVX checks the IP address you arrive on before it plays anything. A VPN router carrying a UK residential IP makes your connection look like a British household, so your own ITVX account works abroad as it does at home.
When is The Masked Singer back on ITV?
ITV has said the new series returns in 2027 on ITV1 and ITVX, with Joel Dommett hosting, but it hasn't published a start date yet. The last few series have run on Saturday nights through January and February. We'll update this guide when ITV confirms a date.
Can I watch old series of The Masked Singer on ITVX?
Yes, once your connection is on a UK residential IP. Series three to seven are currently on ITVX as box sets, subscription-free, so you can work through the earlier reveals before the new series starts.
Can I watch it on the TV rather than a phone?
Yes. The router covers every device behind it, so a Freely box like the Netgem PLEIO or Manhattan Aero, a Fire TV Stick or the television's own ITVX app all play on the UK connection at once, with nothing to install on any of them.
Final Thoughts
The Masked Singer is a whole-family show, built for shouting at the telly at the same moment as everyone back home. Living abroad shouldn't mean finding out who was under the mask from a headline.
A VPN router with a UK residential IP puts ITV1 live back on your own television, for every reveal of the new series and everything else on ITVX in between.
