''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 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

. 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 HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. As of February 2015, app ...

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 A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...

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

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

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 Catherine Gee (born 1 July 1967) is an English television presenter and property expert. In March 2011, Gee took over as the host of the ITV daytime makeover show ''60 Minute Makeover''. Prior to this she was best known for presenting the BBC re ...

(2002–2007) *Nick Page (2002) * Alistair Appleton (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 documenta ...

(2007–) *

Melissa Porter Melissa Porter (born 18 December 1972) is an English television presenter, best known for her BBC programmes ''To Buy or Not to Buy'' and ''Escape to the Country''. Early life Melissa Jayne Tindiglia was born in Wythenshawe, Manchester, the mid ...

(2007) *

Denise Nurse Denise Bernadette Nurse (born 8 July 1976) is a British entrepreneur, lawyer and television presenter. Education Denise Nurse studied Law and graduated from the University of Liverpool in 1997. She then studied at University of Law for her ...

(2008–2015, 2022-) *

Nicki Chapman Nicola Chapman, known professionally as Nicki Chapman (born 14 January 1967) is an English television & radio presenter, talent show judge and public relations agent who previously worked in the British pop music industry. Chapman was a judg ...

(2009–) * Jonnie Irwin (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 (2014–) *

Nicki Shields Nicola Shields (born 1 November 1985) is a British television presenter best known as the Formula E pit lane reporter. A biological sciences graduate of the University of Bristol, she got a job for UBS which she left after one year to found the ...

(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 series 9 of ''The Great British Bake Off'' in 2018, finishing fourth. She presents the cooking show '' Food Unwrapped'' and the reality housing show ''Escape t ...

(2022–) *

Chris Bavin Christopher Bavin (born 1 February 1980) is a television presenter and fresh produce importer, known for co-presenting '' Britain's Best Home Cook'', ''Eat Well for Less?'', ''Britain in Bloom'', ''Food: Truth or Scare'', and is one of the presen ...

(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

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 busine ...

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 broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

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 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 SBS ...

. 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 ...

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 Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pr ...

, 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 la ...

, 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)