If you’re outside of the UK and you still want to watch UK TV, this article will guide you through *exactly* what you need to do – in less than five minutes! Continue reading to find how to watch Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway abroad.
See also: How to watch ITV Hub abroad.
How to watch Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway abroad: Quick guide
- Sign up to ExpressVPN (£5.13/month) or Ivacy (£1.74/month)
- Download the app on your laptop or mobile device
- Connect to a server in the UK (or the specific ITV server for Ivacy)
- Go to ITV Hub
- Watch Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway
It’s as easy as that.
Note: VPNs work on iPhones, iPad Android devices, Amazon Fire TV Stick. However, for the best results, I recommend watching via a laptop.
Why you NEED a VPN to watch Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway abroad…
ITV Hub, BBC iPlayer, Channel 4, Channel 5 and every other UK TV channel is geo-restricted to only work with UK IP addresses (internet connections).
If you’re trying to access ITV Hub from an overseas IP address, you’ll see the following error message “Sorry! This video isn’t available right now.”
Note: An IP address is a lot you’re home’s actual address. But, instead of 10 Downing Street or 221b Baker Street, your internet connection has a 9-12 digit addresses that, among other things, reveals where your approximate location.
Fortunately, there’s software you can install onto your device that spoofs your IP addresses to any location in the world. This software is called a VPN (virtual private network), and if you subscribe to a good VPN (more on this later), you’ll be able to watch UK TV from anywhere in the world.
How does a VPN work?
VPNs use a combination of military-grade encryption and a network of global servers to allow users to spoof their internet connection to any location around the world.
When you install a VPN on your device and turn it on, what you’re actually doing is encrypting all of your internet activity and rerouting it to your VPN server of choice.
When your encrypted data reaches the server, it’s unencrypted and relayed to the local ISP (internet service provider). The returned data is then encrypted again and sent back to your device.
Take a look at my other article, ITV Hub not working with VPN? to read a more in-depth explanation of what’s causes VPNs to stop working with ITV Hub.
How to watch Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway abroad (outside of the UK)
If you’re outside of the UK and you want to watch Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, all you need is a good VPN. Below are the best VPNs that still work with ITV Hub in 2020.
1. ExpressVPN – The BEST VPN of 2020!
Price: £5.13/month
ExpressVPN (£5.13/month) is the best VPN you can buy. If you can afford the extra few pounds/dollars a month, you won’t regret it.
The first thing you need to know about this VPN is that it’s fast. Really fast! It consistently tops our independent VPN speed tests, with blazingly fast download/upload speeds. And importantly, it ALWAYS has servers that are open with major streaming sites such as ITV Hub, Netflix, Amazon, HBO Go and BBC iPlayer.
This is partly because ExpressVPN is one of the best services at playing Cat and Mouse with online streaming sites. Whenever one of its servers is blacklisted it creates a new one. Giving users a constant stream of servers that work with ITV Hub.
Its app is easy-to-use and free to download on pretty much any device you can think of. Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, FireStick, Android TV, Roku, PS4, Xbox, Linux, even Apple TV. It’s got it all covered.
The app is another main reason this VPN is so good at unblocking TV streaming sites (that claim they block VPNs) is that its software takes a pragmatic approach to user management. While other VPNs tempt customers by promising them access to hundreds/thousands of servers in multiple countries, ExpressVPN does things differently.
With ExpressVPN you only have a handful of server locations to choose from. Once you select your location the app takes care of the rest. Assigning you to the fastest available server that’s not oversubscribed. This simple technique is so important, as it keeps ExpressVPN’s servers operating at lightning-fast speeds and prevent its IPs from getting blacklisted for “abnormal” usage in the first place.
ExpressVPN is a little more expensive than the other VPNs on this list that still work with online streaming sites. But if you can afford it, it’s totally worth it.
Get ExpressVPN for £5.13/month (30-day money-back guarantee)
2. Ivacy – The BEST low-cost VPN of 2020
Price: £1.74/month
Ivacy (£1.74/month) is one of the cheapest VPNs on the market and is also one of the fastest. More importantly, it has IP addresses that aren’t blacklisted by ITV Hub, BBC iPlayer, Netflix (etc).
Ivacy keeps its connections working with ITV Hub by employing two main strategies. The first is by playing a game of Cat and Mouse with ITV. If/when ITV detects and blocks one of its IP addresses, Ivacy reacts by shutting that IP down and opening a new (unblacklisted) IP.
The technique is simple. But it’s labour intensive. Which means a lot of other VPNs don’t do it and some that do aren’t as quick. Ivacy is one of the few VPNs that’s good at staying on top of the game.
Ivacy’s second strategy is prevention. While other VPNs force you to select the server/IP you want by country. Ivacy lets you select by Purpose too. This is important because it allows Ivacy to manage its network of servers and IPs.
Other VPNs, that make users connect to servers based on the country they want, are forced to close a connection when it stops working with that country’s main streaming service. In the UK’s case, this would be BBC iPlayer.
However, Ivacy’s method enables them to connect a user to a server might be blocked by BBC, but still working with ITV.
Click here to get Ivacy (£1.74/month)
3. CyberGhost – The BEST mid-range VPN of 2020
Price: £2.50/month
CyberGhost (£2.50/month) is a great affordable VPN that gets the job done. While it’s not (consistently) as fast as ExpressVPN, it’s still high-end enough to provide an HD stream of ITV hub from anywhere in the world with a reasonable broadband connection.
Like ExpressVPN, CyberGhost plays a game of Cat and Mouse with ITV Hub – and BBC iPlayer, Netflix, HBO, et al – by immediately closing down blacklisted servers and replacing them with new undetected IPs.
CyberGhost was also one of the first VPNs to let users pick servers based on what they wanted to sue their VPN for. This allows both the VPN provider and user to employ the best server/IP for the task in hand. In this scenario, you’d simply need to select ITV Hub from the Popular Websites menu. CyberGhost would then automatically connect you to a server that has been tested with ITV Hub.
I’ve been using CyberGhost since 2017 without any issues with ITV Hub, BBC iPlayer and Netflix.
