Watch BBC iPlayer from Ireland

The system won’t run a check on your address or anything, so it’s fully OK to use a random valid code to sign up for BBC iPlayer. Here are some examples of valid postcodes for different locations:

PO1 1QW; PO1 2AY – Portsmouth

BS14 8WR – Bristol

SN1 4BL; SN1 3EX – Swindon (Wiltshire)

SW2 4QE; WC1N 2NF; E3 5QT – different districts of London.

Now more about British postcodes and what they look like. The matter is complicated, so we’ll just say a couple of words about them, FYI.

The British postcode has 5 to 7 symbols that include both numbers and letters. The code describes the geographic location on several levels, starting with a city and ending with a specific group of houses or part of the street. It makes mail delivery easier and provides convenient number identifiers for different locations, like in this case with BBC iPlayer's registration. You don’t just say that you are in the UK, but with this code, you show that you live in a particular area. That’s why the postcode is required for registration.

A full postcode consists of two parts, outward postcode and inward postcode. The first part includes 2 to 4 letters/numbers, and it is separated by one blank space from the second part which can also include 2 to 4 letters/numbers.

VPNs are fully legal software solutions that are sometimes officially recommended to users for security reasons or in cases of emergency. So there is nothing wrong or illegal in employing them for harmless activities like streaming British TV. iPlayer developers may not want you to, but it’s more of a finger-wagging no-no.

Yet another question is the performance of a VPN service and its ability to circumvent geo-blocking put in place by the iPlayer team. It’s a matter of luck and trial and error if you choose this way to unblock BBC iPlayer outside the UK.

Usually, a VPN is not designed for a specific program or site; it is designed to cover the whole amount of traffic that passes to and from your device. So, no, there are no dedicated VPNs to watch BBC iPlayer. You have to pick a regular VPN and see if it makes iPlayer available abroad.

And you have to experiment and sieve through many options to potentially find a reliable VPN that will work. However, a free version will be slow, limited by the number of locations and servers. It may altogether lack the UK server that you are looking for.

Paid versions may have more options for servers and locations but again, it all depends on the quality of VPN in general. VPN architecture may be outdated and incompatible with new streaming services. Or a VPN service may interfere with your firewall or antivirus, or just lose connection time after time because of some inner flaws. Such programs are designed to work with site pages and emails; they are not intended for heavy-duty broadband BBC iPlayer streaming, after all.

The soundest tip so far is to find another way to access BBC iPlayer from Ireland. Just get a dedicated solution that is simple and efficient, like LivingAbroad.tv Chrome extension. Yet you are free to test your tech skills and experiment with available VPNs. Here’s a short guide to troubleshooting if anything goes wrong in the process.

1. The selected VPN service does not connect to the Internet at all

• Check your firewall settings and allow the use of a VPN
• Update the VPN or use another one
• Reset your router and a device where the VPN is installed
• If the problem is with the wrong port settings, you need to contact the support.

2. Internet speed is very slow when a VPN is on

Possible solutions:

• Find a faster premium VPN or upgrade to a more expensive plan without speed limits
• If possible, choose servers that are located closer to you. The further the proxy server, the lower the speed for streaming BBC (or any other content provider).
• Check if you use proper protocols for sending and receiving the data. Your default protocol should be UDP.
• Your Internet connection may be slow because you use too many devices simultaneously. Turn off other devices and try to access the BBC iPlayer again.

3. A VPN works with other applications or sites but does not let you stream content

• Possible solutions:Get a dedicated reliable VPN for streaming British TV.
• Clean cookies and cache on your device.
• Try to switch to another VPN server.

As you see, using a VPN to watch iPlayer looks more like hurdle races and less like a pleasurable experience. That’s why we point you to the practical way to watch BBC iPlayer outside the UK. Just install LivingAbroad.tv Chrome extension and spare yourself troubles and frustration. With a couple of clicks, you are able to watch all your beloved programmes and dramas without a glitch.

After you’ve accessed iPlayer from abroad, you need to register to unlock all its functions and cool content. Registration is free of charge as of 2025 and will take only a couple of minutes. Let’s go through this process together step by step.

1. When LivingAbroad.tv is installed, tap on it and you’ll see the list of channels available.

2. Choose iPlayer and open it.

3. The welcoming screen will invite you to register. But to do so, you need to state that you are an adult and your age is 16 or above. Users under 16 are considered children and can register in iPlayer only under parental supervision. 

4. The next step will require you to enter your date of birth

You are expected to provide your actual date of birth here. Just mind that you can create an adult account if you are 16 or above. If you mention that you are under 16, BBC iPlayer will create you a child’s account with limited access to content. So take care to enter a date of birth that shows you as an adult.

5. Due to the features of LivingAbroad.tv extension, the site will define your location as the United Kingdom automatically. If you are asked to choose a country manually in the process, just choose the United Kingdom from the list. Do not forget to provide your valid email and create a password. You will need them for signing in if you log out accidentally.

6. The next step is the most important: you need to prove that you are in the UK and to do so, you’ll need a valid postcode (of which a bit later). Enter a valid random postcode and it will be enough to confirm your location as UK. Gender field is required to maintain the appropriate form of communication with you (via emails) and to offer you the content on BBC iPlayer you might like.

7. Hit ‘Register’ and the registration is complete. You’ll see this screen, and please don’t forget to verify the email. You’ll need it to retrieve a password if you forget it or to get important updates from iPlayer. If you don’t want to receive emails in the future, just click the corresponding button.

This is it, congratulations! You’ve registered successfully and can now watch BBC content in iPlayer in its full glory.

You can access BBC iPlayer on a whole array of devices.

• Smart TV connected to the Internet
• Desktop PC
• Laptops
• Tablets and smartphones running on Android, iOS, and Amazon Fire.

With iPlayer, you have access to a wealth of BBC channels and categories, including BBC programmes, dramas, and other thrilling content. The categories alone reach into dozens, like Soaps and drama, comedy, films, news, music, documentaries, history, science and nature, arts, lifestyle, music, the content from the BBC TV archives, kids’ content, and more.

It’s especially convenient that the most popular BBC iPlayer content comes in strands. For example, along with re-watching older and newer seasons of Doctor Who you can explore the history of the cult series, discover the Whoniverse, and so on. The same relates to all BBC signature films and shows, so get ready to binge-watch for hours.

It’s hard to count all shows and movies on BBC iPlayer because Doctor Who alone with its spin-offs and related content accounts for 800 episodes. And they will be all shown to mark the 60th anniversary of this sci-fi phenomenon in 2023. So expect to find thousands of hours of programmes, dramas, films, and more, all gathered at one place for your convenience.

It’s not surprising, then, that the global iPlayer sees a steady growth in the number of viewers in and outside the UK, reaching 7 billion at the end of 2022. Don’t miss out on this feast and start enjoying iPlayer from abroad right now.

BBC iPlayer provides content from all channels hosted under the BBC umbrella, namely:

• BBC 1
• BBC 2
• BBC 3
• BBC 4
• Radio 1
• CBBC
• CBeebies
• BBC Scotland
• BBC News
• BBC Parliament
• BBC Alba
• BBC S4C