Home and away

JANUARY is traditionally the time when our minds turn to making fresh starts, and this month’s big freeze has made the idea of moving to warmer climes even more appealing.

But while relocating to Australia may conjure up visions of sitting on a beach with nothing more to worry about than whether or not to throw another shrimp on the barbie, actually finding a home there can be pretty stressful.

Luckily, that’s where Phil Spencer and his new series Relocation: Phil Down Under, comes in.

As the husband of a Melbourne native, he knows almost as much about the Australian property market as he does the British, and will be using that expertise to help UK families find their perfect property on the other side of the world.

Spencer admits it’s a huge responsibility.

“The couples had literally just arrived in the country, two of them I practically met off the plane, and for all of them, the purchase of the house was fundamental to the rest of their move,” he says.

“If they could get the house right, everything else could fall into place behind them, so it was vital that I did the best that I possibly could. I very much felt the pressure, but very much enjoyed it.”

Just to make the series that little bit more stressful, for once he didn’t have his Location, Location, Location co-presenter Kirstie Allsopp to turn to for support.

However, it seems there was one upside to being on the other side of the world from his colleague. She was filming Homemade Home at the time, and it was about minus ten in England, and he was filming in near enough 40 degrees on some days.

When he wasn’t enjoying the weather, he had the chance to experience other aspects of Oz culture outside the estate agents’ offices.

“We wanted to try to showcase a bit of life in Australia and what it might be like,” he explains. “So we’ve got a lot of information about immigration, but also I wanted to go and trial a few different, typically Australian jobs. Jobs that are interesting and that you couldn’t do in this country. It was just a bit of an opportunity to compare and contrast.”

So would he move there himself? “I love Australia, but I happen to be very English and very settled here, and we’re very happy here. I’d miss England desperately,”

he says.

“As much as I – probably the same as lots of people – grumble and complain about bits of England, it is a wonderful country.

“But the lifestyle on offer in Australia is absolutely sensational.”

In the first episode, Lee and Bronagh Davidson get to see whether they agree as they check out Perth, Western Australia.

Spencer is determined to help them find the perfect four-bed house in which to begin their new life, but he also finds time to take a tour of Sydney and join the crew of a fishing boat.

THE debut episode of Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World managed to be both entertaining and informative, thanks to the skill Dan Snow has for presenting information in a way that drives the point home without making you want to throw yourself overboard.

Britannia may not boast about ruling the waves quite as much these days, but we still have a lot to thank the Navy for.

It’s helped to shape the UK as we know it, playing a part in everything from agriculture to economics.

This episode focuses on events of 1690, when France appeared to have control of the seas. If England wanted to stand up to its powerful neighbour, it would need to increase its presence on the ocean, but that was going to be expensive.

In order to foot the bill, a whole new financial institution, the Bank of England, was born, showing how there was more to mastering the high seas than ships and guns.