How to watch The Great British Sewing Bee in the US for free

The Great British Sewing Bee has gained a cult following among viewers, standing alongside other popular televised competitions like The Great British Bakeoff. With sewing challenges, big prizes at stake, and heartwarming stories from the contestants, the show draws you in and keeps you hooked.

The new season of The Great British Sewing Bee is expected to launch on BBC One in May 2025. The exact date isn’t set in stone, but it’s likely it’ll air around the same date as last year’s series, which started May 21st.

Rumors are circulating around new celebrity guest appearances, special themed episodes, and a shakeup to the usual challenges that will keep viewers on the edge of their seats. For fans in the United Kingdom, the show is available free via terrestrial TV and BBC iPlayer. However, for viewers in the US, The Great British Sewing Bee isn’t available on standard streaming service – and BBC iPlayer is region-locked to the UK.

Fortunately, there’s a simple way to stream the new season – or past seasons – from anywhere without paying for extra subscriptions. Keep reading to find out exactly how you can tune in and join the excitement from wherever you are.

Where to watch The Great British Sewing Bee in 2025

If you’re located in the United Kingdom, you can watch The Great British Sewing Bee on BBC One or BBC iPlayer. However, outside of the UK, you can still watch BBC iPlayer by using a streaming-focused VPN to change your IP address within minutes. Or, you can subscribe to another UK streaming service like BritBox that airs BBC content.

Bear in mind that BBC iPlayer tends to be the only platform that will let you watch the latest season of The Great British Sewing Bee. BBC iPlayer is the broadcasting company’s official streaming service and holds the rights to The Great British Sewing Bee – and it’s only accessible to viewers in the UK who hold a valid TV license. If you’re happy to see older seasons though, you can get a BritBox add-on via Amazon Prime Video or check BBC America via your cable package.

In our testing, we found that the cheapest NordVPN plan (Standard) works perfectly for changing your IP address and unblocking BBC iPlayer. This technique works anywhere in the world, including the United States.

How to watch The Great British Sewing Bee in the US

Fans of The Great British Sewing Bee who live outside of the UK, or UK residents traveling abroad, will quickly realize that you can’t stream the show without a UK IP address. When you try to visit BBC iPlayer, you’ll see a message indicating that you’re blocked.

To watch The Great British Sewing Bee in the US, you’ll need to use a reliable VPN to unblock BBC iPlayer – a free streaming service in the United Kingdom. A VPN disguises your location by changing your digital IP address, making it appear as if you’re located in another country. This allows you to access geo-restricted content such as BBC iPlayer.

After testing 20 VPNs, the best choices for unblocking BBC iPlayer and streaming in HD without lag are NordVPN, Surfshark, and Proton VPN.

Step 1: Choose a VPN with servers in the UK

You need a VPN with a strong roster of UK servers to access BBC iPlayer and watch The Great British Sewing Bee in the US. The best UK VPNs have a large number of servers within the country. This way, you won’t suffer slowdowns when multiple users connect during busy periods, as load is spread across the network. Following in-house tests, I recommend choosing NordVPN as the best VPN for streaming The Great British Sewing Bee.

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Step 2: Install the VPN on your streaming device

Once you’ve chosen a VPN, it’s time to install it on your preferred device for streaming. All of our preferred premium VPNs have dedicated apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. However, NordVPN and most others also support installation on smart TVs, streaming devices like the Fire Stick, and installation on a router.

Installing your VPN on a PC, laptop, or smartphone is as simple as downloading the app from your device’s app store or the VPN’s official website. Premium VPN apps are excellent for guiding you through the installation process that should only take a few minutes.

Step 3: Connect to UK server

Next, find and connect to a UK VPN server via the VPN application. Scroll through the list of available countries until you find the United Kingdom. Alternatively, NordVPN and other premium VPN apps have a world map view that lets you pan across the map to quickly find and select a specific country’s server.

Choosing a UK VPN server is essential as it’s the only way to unblock BBC iPlayer and watch The Great British Sewing Bee. If you don’t change your IP address to a UK IP address, you’ll be blocked as soon as you try to access the BBC’s website.

Step 4: Go to BBC iPlayer

Navigate to the BBC iPlayer website or get the app from your device’s app store. To stream any content on this website, you’ll need to create a free account and be signed in. It’s a simple sign-up process, but it requires you to input a UK postcode. The Royal Mail’s postcode finder can help here – even if you use the example that’s pre-populated in the search box, it’ll work.

First, you’ll need to input a code sent to you by email. You will also be asked whether you have a TV license. You can select “Yes” to answer this question as you don’t need a TV license unless you’re a UK citizen. After that, the remainder of the signup process is simple and you’ll be able to start streaming within minutes.

Step 5: Start streaming The Great British Sewing Bee

If you’re being region blocked by BBC iPlayer, you’ll notice that you can’t use the search field in the upper-right corner of the website. Now that you’ve got a UK IP address, click on the search box and type in The Great British Sewing Bee. You’ll be able to select available episodes and start streaming right away.

If you still can’t search for the show, it could be that your VPN connection isn’t hiding your location. In this case, I recommend closing your browser and starting a fresh private browsing session. If you continue having issues, try clearing your cookies and cache or switching to another UK VPN server.

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Top 3 VPNs to watch The Great British Sewing Bee from anywhere

1. NordVPN

   Best overall streaming VPN with a large UK server network
   9.8
2. Surfshark VPN

   Fast VPN for watching The Great British Sewing Bee on any device
   9.5
3. Proton VPN

   Freemium VPN known for excellent streaming performance
   8.6

🥇NordVPN was my top choice after testing 20 different VPN services, offering the fastest average download speeds I saw from any provider. Connection speed is crucial for high-definition streaming, and NordVPN consistently served up speeds that allowed me to stream in both HD and 4K without lag. This provider also has 600+ UK VPN servers so there was never any risk of congestion leading to speed drops, and it could unblock BBC iPlayer without ever being detected.

🥈Surfshark is another solid BBC iPlayer VPN choice, offering fast speeds across its network of 200+ UK VPN servers. I recommend this VPN to users who have a lot of devices, or households with many Sewing Bee fans. With support for unlimited simultaneous devices, you can watch The Great British Sewing Bee on as many different devices at the same time as you like. It’s also a budget-conscious choice with some of the lowest subscription fees around.

🥉Alternatively, Proton VPN is a freemium VPN you can use to stream the show while continuing to use the VPN for free indefinitely. However, you’re at the mercy of random server assignment with Proton VPN’s free tier, which means you might struggle to get a UK IP address. For this reason, I suggest considering NordVPN or Surfshark’s 30-day money-back guarantee as a more reliable option.

The Great British Sewing Bee returning in 2025 – what to expect

The Great British Sewing Bee returns in 2025 for its 11th series, with judges Patrick Grant and Esme Young reprising their roles. After Kiell Smith-Bynoe’s popular stint as host in the 2024 season, fans will be delighted to see him make the return for another series.

In Season 10, we saw the introduction of themed weeks that focused on various sewing styles and eras, which gave contestants a fresh challenge centered around changing fashion designs. We expect to see more unique challenges, as well as the return of themed weeks and guest judges. Otherwise, the common Pattern, Transformation, and Made to Measure challenges will resurface as the core challenges that contestants face.

Alongside the new season, you can also check out The Great British Sewing Bee: Back to Basics – an official companion book that is being released with Season 11. The book includes tips, patterns, and step-by-step projects fans will recognize from past seasons. If watching the show has you tempted to join in, the book’s a good place to start.

Watch The Great British Sewing Bee online for free

BBC iPlayer is currently the only place to watch The Great British Sewing Bee free online. It’s a UK streaming service that airs content without charge – but only to residents of the United Kingdom. As a result, you can only access the platform if you’re connecting from a UK IP address.

If you’re located in the US or you’re a UK resident traveling abroad, there is a simple solution. Get a premium VPN with UK VPN servers and change your IP address to access BBC iPlayer from anywhere. Combine a 30-day money-back guarantee from a VPN like NordVPN with BBC iPlayer’s free-to-use service, and you’ll be able to watch The Great British Sewing Bee entirely without charge and in HD.

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FAQ

Is The Great British Sewing Bee available in the USA?

As of May 2025, there are no plans to air The Great British Sewing Bee in the US. If you’re a resident of the US or a Brit traveling abroad, you can use a VPN to unblock BBC iPlayer and stream the show entirely free with a VPN money-back guarantee. For example, NordVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee and can easily unblock BBC iPlayer from anywhere around the world.

Is The Great British Sewing Bee on Netflix?

No, The Great British Sewing Bee isn’t on Netflix. The show is aired exclusively on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, with the latter being a free streaming service available to UK residents. If you’re not in the United Kingdom, you can change your IP address with a VPN to watch the show online for free.

Is The Great British Sewing Bee on Amazon Prime?

Yes, you can watch The Great British Sewing Bee on Amazon Prime by subscribing to the BritBox add-on for around $8.99/month. Just be wary that BritBox only shows limited past seasons – Season 11 will be aired exclusively on BBC iPlayer and BBC One.

How to watch The Great British Sewing Bee online for free?

To watch The Great British Sewing Bee online for free, download a premium VPN service with a 30-day money-back guarantee, connect to a UK VPN server, and navigate to the BBC iPlayer website. I recommend using NordVPN or Surfshark for the fastest streaming connections and access to a broad UK VPN server network.

Where can I watch old seasons of The Great British Sewing Bee?

Old seasons of The Great British Sewing Bee can be found on BBC iPlayer, BritBox, Sky TV, Apple TV, and occasionally on BBC America. If you’re outside the UK, you’ll need to change your IP address with a VPN to access BBC iPlayer.