I’m lucky enough to travel a lot with my job, which sounds an incredible bonus.   Although the downside is that although I visit lots of different countries, because I work in IT I’m normally visiting industrial estates and factories in the middle of nowhere.

It’s the same with accommodation, despite a reasonably flexible expense account I’m normally stuck in nondescript ‘business hotels’ in the middle of nowhere.   This means that although the facilities are generally pretty good, there’s rarely much to do and if you walk out of the door you’re unlikely to find much more than a busy road or a roundabout.

Which does get kind of boring, especially in the evenings which can certainly drag unless you spend them in the bar! Obviously this is not good for your health or career prospects. The hotel I generally end up in when I work in the Netherlands is just like this but fortunately it has a super fast (and free) Wifi connection.

Dutch TV actually doesn’t look too bad, but unfortunately my language skills are rather poor.  So although I quite often enjoy football coverage, the rest of their broadcasts are not much use to me.

Of course, a fast internet connection means that what’s broadcast is irrelevant as most TV channels across the world stream online too.  Including the wonderful BBC iPlayer which has enough in the archive to keep me entertained for years to come.   Only one more hurdle to overcome, the stupid way that all British TV is blocked when you travel outside the UK.  The fix follows though and it’s easier than you think

How to Watch British TV in the Netherlands

I’ve recently become rather addicted to the show – Silent Witness.  It’s been around for years but I never managed to watch it until recently.  But it’s true it’s a fantastic show and I was very pleased to see that there’s loads of the older shows in the BBC iPlayer archive too.  For some reason they seem to have relaxed their 3 month rule and for many popular shows you can watch from years ago.

Which makes it perfect for long evenings in hotel rooms, streaming BBC iPlayer to your laptop, with no interruptions.  Yet first we have to overcome the annoying geo-restrictions, which will block you the first time you try and access from anywhere outside the UK including the Netherlands!

Technically what happens is that the minute anyone visits the BBC website, your IP address is logged.  This is then checked against a central database to check which country it’s registered in.  If it’s from the UK then everything works fine, however anywhere else and you’ll be redirected to the international version of the BBC.   This is fine but it doesn’t contain any video links or the ability to stream live or archived programmes.  If you try and cheat and just go directly to the BBC iPlayer site, you’ll still get blocked – like this.

However don’t worry, for as we speak literally millions of people from all over the world are streaming the BBC, ITV and Channels 4 directly to their laptop irrespective of their location.

The method is simple – you just have to hide  your true location by obscuring your real IP address.  Now you can’t actually change your IP address because it’s assigned directly from your location but you can use something called a proxy to display a completely different address.  As long as this address is registered and located in the UK then you will be able to access any UK television stations without an issue.  This is what British TV fans do from all over the planet to access BBC iPlayer.

Here’s a brief video demonstrating the process –

That’s all there is to it, because you’re hiding behind a proxy server then your true location is completely invisible. The BBC website will only see the IP address of the proxy server so as long as you pick a UK one then everything will work as normal. The same thing happens with other UK only TV sites like ITV Hub, Channels 4 and 5. It also works with other sites which are restricted, personally I use it access Betfair which is also blocked to non-UK connections for some strange reason.

Now most of the main UK channels also require accounts but don’t worry they’re not used for location tracking. Use your ordinary account with the proxy service and all will work perfectly. If you haven’t got an account just make your connection to a UK server before creating one. Remember to put in a valid UK postcode and address though and everything will work fine.

There used to be an issue where the ITV Hub would not work even with a VPN connection hiding your IP address. This was because it checked what timezone your computer’s clock was set in, so you had to change to GMT. That doesn’t seem to be needed anymore but it’s worth remembering if you have issues with any other website if they don’t work initially.

There are lots of these services available but the important factors to look for are speed and security. If the servers are not configured properly they’ll leak your address and it won’t work. Also some proxies have IP address ranges blacklisted by the BBC and will have similar issues. Speed is also a crucial factor as you’re streaming video so it needs to be fast to be watchable. A slow server and connection will make the video buffer and stall which does not make for an enjoyable viewing experience!

Also if you want to watch on other devices like smart phones and tablets then you should ensure that these are supported to.  Most of the advanced services like Identity Cloaker will allow you to connect via VPN manually too without having to use the software.

Here’s our suggestion- but try out the short trial first to see it working first –
Identity Cloaker 10 Day Trial

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