''Escape to the Country'' is a British

daytime television Daytime is a block of television programming taking place during the late-morning and afternoon on weekdays. Daytime programming is typically scheduled to air between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., following the early morning da ...

reality property-buying/real estate programme, created by

Talkback Thames Talkback Thames (stylised as talkbackTHAMES) was a British television production company, a division of Fremantle (part of the RTL Group, which in turn is owned by Bertelsmann). It was formed by the merger of Talkback Productions and Thames ...

, which premieres on network

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

, produced by John Comerford and is repeated on BBC Two. It first aired on 14 October 2002 and also airs internationally in broadcast syndication. In later years, production was transferred to Boundless Productions, a division of Fremantle Media.

Format

The programme's

TV format A TV format is the overall concept and branding of a copyrighted television show. The most common type of formats are those in the television genres of game shows and reality shows, many of which are remade in multiple markets with local contestants ...

follows potential home buyers as they look for their dream home in the rural UK by viewing three houses (including a "mystery property") in the designated area. After they inspect each house, the host asks the buyers to guess the seller's asking price before revealing it. Episodes also feature information regarding the counties, towns and villages presented, for example local industry and history. In each episode, with the exception of some filmed under COVID19 restrictions, the buyers undertake an activity in the local area, often tailored to their interests, such as baking, gardening, or sailing. The presenter also experiences an activity, which is often associated the area in question, such as cheese making. At the end of each episode, the buyers are asked whether they will make an offer on one of the houses, with updates sometimes available at the end of the episode.

Broadcast

There are two versions of each episode produced - a shorter 45-minute version with only 3 houses shown and a longer 60-minute version. The short version usually airs on BBC One weekday afternoons (usually in the 15:00 slot) and the longer on BBC One weekdays at 10:00 or BBC Two evenings at 19:00. Repeat episodes are shown on HGTV.

Series 1 to 5

Produced by Boundless, part of Fremantle UK, and aired from 2002, the premise of the show is that a person/family wishes to relocate from their current city home to a more peaceful and rural retreat. It is then the job of the show's presenter to find four houses for the family to view via laptop computer in their own homes. The family must then choose two out of the four houses to go and view for themselves. In addition, there is also the option of choosing the presenter's 'mystery house'. Series 3 included a Catherine Gee episode starring actor/writer Ian Murphy, who was relocating from Nottingham to Lancaster.

Series 6 to 9

The format of the show changed in series 6 to accommodate viewer demand to see more houses and more local information . Contributors now view all four houses, of which the fourth is the mystery house. The mystery house usually has something unique about it that will either make the contributors fall in love with or hate it. Added to the show is a taster day in which the contributors sample local delights, gain historical knowledge and visit local attractions to get a feel for the area they are planning to move to. Series 6 aired in August 2007 on

, while series 7 and 8 aired back-to-back in autumn 2008. Series 9 began on 23 February in a new slot of 15:45 on BBC Two.

Series 10 to 12

The format was modified again: the number of properties the couples viewed was reduced to three, with the third being the mystery house. Series 12 consisted of 75 shows and was broadcast from November 2011 on BBC Two with new title and credit sequences.

Series 13 to 20

Series 13 premiered on 3 September 2012 on

, followed by a further series each year; Series 20 began in late 2019. In 2019, Series 19 was being broadcast and BBC One was re-running episodes of Series 18 on a daily basis. Presenters for these series included Sonali Shah, Jonnie Irwin, Ginny Buckley, Jules Hudson, Alistair Appleton, Margherita Taylor, and Nicki Chapman. For Series 19 the following credits were provided: * Series Producers: Eleanor Brocklehurst and Emma Smith * Executive Producer: John Comerford * Production company: FremantleMedia (Boundless Productions)

Presenters

Over the years, presenters have included: * Catherine Gee (2002–2007) *Nick Page (2002) *

Alistair Appleton Alistair Appleton (born 12 February 1970) is a British broadcaster, psychotherapist and meditation teacher. Biography Born in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, to Peter and Sally (née Cooper) Appleton, the younger of two sons, Alistair was brough ...

(2007–2022) *

Jules Hudson Julian Harold Hudson (born 9 January 1970) is an English archaeologist, television producer and presenter, best known for presenting the BBC series ''Escape to the Country.'' He also frequently presents sections of the environmental documentary ...

(2007–) * Melissa Porter (2007) * Denise Nurse (2008–2015, 2022-) * Nicki Chapman (2009–) *

Jonnie Irwin Jonathan James Irwin (born 18 November 1973) is an English television presenter, writer, lecturer, business and property expert. Early life Irwin grew up on a small farm in the village of Bitteswell, Leicestershire. Irwin was educated at Lutter ...

(2010–) *

Aled Jones Aled Jones, (born 29 December 1970) is a Welsh singer and radio and television presenter. As a teenage chorister, he reached widespread fame during the mid-1980s. Since then he has worked in television with the BBC and ITV, and radio (for ...

(2009–2013) *

Anita Rani Anita Rani Nazran (born 25 October 1977), better known as Anita Rani, is an English radio and television presenter. Early life Rani was born and brought up in Bradford, West Yorkshire to a Hindu father and a Sikh mother. In an episode of ...

(2014–2015) *

Sonali Shah Sonali Shah (born 26 July 1980 in Edgware, London) is a British TV and Radio Broadcaster who currently presents Sunday Breakfast on Magic FM as well as BBC television programme ''Escape to the Country'', ITV's Tonight and has her own segment o ...

(2014–) * Nicki Shields (2013–2014) *

Ginny Buckley Virginia Louise Buckley (born 1 April 1968 in Rochdale) is a British journalist, radio and television presenter. Early life Buckley was born and brought up in Rochdale, England, before moving to Australia at the age of 18. She started her ca ...

(2015–) *

Margherita Taylor Margherita Taylor (born 26 April 1972) is an English TV and radio presenter. She is a freelancer with Global Group and currently presents on stations Smooth Radio and Classic FM. Taylor studied media and communications at the University o ...

(2016–) *

Tim Vincent Tim Vincent (born Timothy Russell Walker; 4 November 1972) is a Welsh actor and television presenter. He appeared on the children's programme ''Blue Peter'' between 1993 and 1997 and has presented several Miss World contests. For several years, ...

(2008–2009) * Steve Brown (2019–) *

Briony May Williams Briony May Williams (born ) is a British celebrity chef and presenter. She appeared on The Great British Bake Off (series 9), series 9 of ''The Great British Bake Off'' in 2018, finishing fourth. She presents the cooking show ''Food Unwrapped'' an ...

(2022–) * Chris Bavin (2022–)

Spin-off and related shows

A subsequent programme, ''I Escaped to the Country'', revisits potential buyers who had appeared on the primary series. By 2022, seven series of this programmed had aired. A related series featuring the same concept and some of the same presenters, but filmed in other countries, ''Escape to the Continent'' was also created for BBC by Boundless Productions. Only two series of this programme were filmed. In early 2019, several news sources indicated that BBC would be commissioning a spinoff series, ''Escape To the Perfect Town'', featuring towns and cities instead of rural villages. This series began in 2019. A further related series, ''Greatest Escapes to the Country'', looking back at homes featured in the primary series was broadcast on BBC Two in 2020.

Australian version

''Escape from the City'' is an Australian version of the show produced by Fremantle Media Australia and screening on the ABC from 3 January 2019. It is presented by: Jane Hall,

Simon Marnie Simon Marnie is an Australian radio and television presenter. Career Radio Marnie was a student of the inaugural radio course at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. Prior to joining ABC Radio Sydney, he worked at Triple J st ...

, Bryce Holdaway,

Del Irani Delnaaz Irani is an Australian journalist based in the United States. She is the anchor of ''Deeper Look from New York'' on NHK World-Japan and a host on the Australian ABC lifestyle show ''Escape From The City''. Irani was previously a busin ...

and Dean Ipaviz.

International broadcasts

In Australia, ''Escape to the Country'' airs on

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia ...

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscripti ...

digital channel 7TWO, and the Lifestyle Channel on Foxtel Subscription TV. In Canada, it is seen on

CTV Life Channel CTV Life Channel is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Bell Media. The channel primarily broadcasts factual and reality programming on lifestyle topics such as cooking, home improvement and real estate, along with scripted dra ...

as well as CBC. In Sweden, it airs on TV8. In the Netherlands, ''Escape to the Country'' airs since April 2011 on

SBS 6 SBS6 is a Dutch free-to-cable commercial TV channel and is a part of Talpa TV, formerly known as SBS Broadcasting B.V. and now owned by Talpa Network. Other channels of the group in the Netherlands are Net5, Veronica, and SBS9. History SB ...

. Additionally, most viewers in the Netherlands can watch the show on the BBC channels that are distributed by cable operators. As a result of its availability in the Netherlands it features in the novel '' The Detour''. In the United States, it was viewable on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

online streaming in March 2017 but has since been discontinued. As of March 2020, a limited number of episodes are available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video, in conjunction with IMDbTV. On

Dabl Dabl () is an American lifestyle-oriented digital multicast television network owned by the CBS Media Ventures subsidiary of Paramount Global. The company's formerly-owned other subchannel network, Decades, through CBS News and Stations was l ...

, two episodes are broadcast weekday afternoons and rerun the same evening.

DVD releases

On 5 March 2014, two DVDs were released in Australia by Shock Entertainment. Titled Series 20 Parts 1 & 2, the two DVDs box sets had a total of 19 discs.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Escape to the Country 2002 British television series debuts 2000s British television series 2010s British television series 2020s British television series BBC Television shows British reality television series English-language television shows Property buying television shows Television series by Fremantle (company)