The wait is almost over. Sherlock: “The Abominable Bride” will be showing on BBC One tomorrow night at 9:00 PM GMT. Fans throughout the UK will undoubtedly be excited to watch the big event. What about those who happen to be traveling outside of the United Kingdom? As you may already know, BBC iPlayer is restricted to those in the UK. The BBC uses geo blocking technology to ensure that only IP addresses inside the country gain access to content. Fortunately there is still a way to watch BBC iPlayer from outside the UK. The answer is using a VPN. You can connect to a VPN server in London, Manchester, Liverpool, or elsewhere in the UK to watch Sherlock: The Abominable Bride from anywhere in the world. Any of the VPNs in our post will unblock BBC iPlayer.
For those who haven’t had the pleasure of the first three seasons of the popular show, Sherlock is a modern day Sherlock Holmes. The Abominable Bride is different. Holmes and Watson will be back on Baker street in a time when steam trains and top hats were all the rage. The special is taking things way back with the mystery set in 1895. We won’t give away any spoilers. That would just ruin the show. Here’s an intro just to set up the show. Thomas Ricoletti is more than surprised to find his wife in her wedding gown hours after committing suicide. Mrs. Ricoletti isn’t done though as her ghost starts exacting revenge on the community. Holmes, Watson, and friends will need to find out the truth about the abominable bride.
Sherlock: The Abominable Bride will be shown on BBC One at 9:00 pm GMT on New Year’s Day. You can expect it to be available soon after on BBC iPlayer. Remember to connect to a VPN server in the UK to avoid the “BBC iPlayer TV programmes are available to play in the UK only.” error message. The BBC is getting better at blocking VPNs so you will find that some services won’t work. We have tested all three providers listed in this post and they all unblock BBC iPlayer without any problems.
Best VPN to Stream Sherlock
First you will want to find a reliable VPN service. In this case you will want one with fast VPN servers in the United Kingdom. Since you have several channels to choose from we’ll share VPN providers with large, reliable networks in the UK. We would like to thank all three VPN services for offering our visitors a deep discount. Save up to 60% off unlimited VPN to unblock channels and protect your privacy.
| Rank | VPN Service | Our Score | Server Locations | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | 9.8 | 160 |  |
| 2 |  | 9.4 | 87 | |
| 3 |  | 9.2 | 95 | |
How to Use a VPN to Watch BBC iPlayer
I’ll use IPVanish for the example of how to use a VPN service to watch Sherlock. First you’ll want to download the VPN client. IPVanish offers free client software for Windows, Mac and Linux. In addition to free apps for iOS and Android.
Now that you’ve had a chance to download and install the software it’s time to connect. Launch the IPVanish client and select a server location. We’ll walk you through step by step using their Windows client.
- Select a server location. We chose London but IPVanish has a large network of servers located around the world.
- We recommend you select OpenVPN (TCP) or (UDP). For streaming videos from sites like YouTube we use OpenVPN (UDP). They also support PPTP and L2TP. We still recommend OpenVPN for the best privacy protection.
- Click connect. After a few seconds you’ll see the button at the top change to green and show “Disconnect”. You’ll also notice the server location and IP address show up at the top of the client.
- We’re now located in the UK as far as anyone can tell online. As such we can reach any site as if sitting in London. The same would be true if we connected to a server in the US or anywhere else in the world.
That’s all there is to it. Now that you have an IP address from the IPVanish server in the United Kingdom you can browse the Internet and stream from BBC iPlayer as if you were actually there. The same is true from any country. Connect to a server in the United States to watch popular streaming services located there.
As you can probably tell by now a good VPN opens access to content around the world. If you live outside the United States the service can help you access popular services like Netflix, Hulu and Pandora. You still need an account for services like Netflix but the VPN will help you watch US television shows and movies on Netflix as if you were sitting in the United States or any other region you would like to access.
Enjoy the new Sherlock: The Abominable Bride mystery. Please share this post with your friends so they can enjoy BBC iPlayer from anywhere in the world with a VPN. Follow us @VPNFan for the latest deals and guides.