Race Across the World

Couples are challenged to get from one side of the world to another (first series, London to Singapore; second, Mexico to Argentina; third, Canada coast-to-coast). They're given the air fare in cash.

Easy, just go to the airport and buy a ticket, right? Wrong - they're not allowed to fly. Overland transport only.

Er, ring up someone and ask for a lift? Nope - there are no mobile phones.

OK, whack it all on the card, right? Nope again - they're not allowed to use any money other than cash. The teams are allowed to work, and the producers arrange some possible jobs along the route.

First to the other side wins a cash prize of £20,000.

Race Across the World settled into a distinctive style. There was a lot about the mechanics of travel, about navigating connections and crossing town, about the trade-off between fast and comfortable. Establishing shots and big captions make it clear where we are, and John Hannah's voiceover tells us about the place.

The show was a mixture of travelogue, relationship diary, and economic management. It was all of these things and none - not a pure travelogue, not a pure people show, and not really an egonomics study. It proved to be a winning formula, viewing figures increased by 50% during the first series.

Celebrity Race Across the World

Michael Burns, credited for "Original Music".

This is a list of celebrity participants who have taken part in the celebrity series.

2023

• Harry Judd (drummer from McFly) and his mother Emma
• Billy Monger (racing driver) and sister Bonny
• Melanie Blatt (member of All Saints) and mother Helene
• Alex Beresford (weatherman) and father Noel

2024

• Jeff Brazier (TV presenter) and his son Freddy
• Kola Bokinni (actor) and his cousin Mary Ellen
• Kelly Brook (model) and her husband Jeremy
• Scott Mills (radio DJ) and his fiancé Sam

2025

• Roman Kemp (presenter) and sister Harleymoon (singer)
• Dylan Llewellyn (actor) and mum Jackie
• Anita Rani (TV presenter) and father Bal
• Tyler West (radio DJ) and Molly Rainford (singer and actor)

The series had a 5-minute preview at 10.25 on Thursday evening. Episodes went out at 9pm on Sunday evenings from 3 March, shifting to 8pm from 31 March as the series threatened to dent BBC1's high-profile drama Line of Duty.

The "no-fly" rule had to be slightly bent during the second series: although the teams still couldn't travel by air of their own volition, a plane was laid on to transport them from the end of one leg in Colombia to the start of the next in Peru, bypassing the civil unrest which had broken out in Ecuador. Further civil unrest in Chile forced the producers to step in again and evacuate one team across the border to Argentina - though by car this time. By the time the series aired, international travel had bigger problems, causing both the third series and a planned celebrity version to be put on hold for a couple of years.

That celebrity version had to be put on hold again. The series was finally recorded in late 2022, to air in autumn 2023. Its first episode was filmed in and around Marrakesh in Morocco. The weekend before transmission, an earthquake near Marrakesh killed thousands of people. The BBC paused the show as a mark of respect.

For the 2026 run, the BBC commissioned previous winners Scott Mills and Alfie Watts for Race Across the World: The Detour, a weekly video podcast discussing the previous episode's events (think You're Fired, Uncloaked, that sort of thing). Mills was fired from the BBC shortly before broadcast for alleged misconduct, and as such had to be replaced by Tyler West with hours to spare.

Series two contestant Sam Gardiner flipped a car with insufficient tyre tread in May 2025. After he died that month from his injuries, more than £28,000 was raised to help other sufferers of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder and eleven former contestants took part in the May 2026 Great North Run in his memory. Good on series one runner-up Darron, series two winner and organiser Emon, series three winners Tricia and Cathie, series four's Stephen and Viv, series five winner Caroline, and series six's Katie and Harrison and winners Jo and Kush. The eleven ran for The Christie, a Manchester charity supporting those affected by cancer, a disease Gardiner's race partner and adoptive mother Jo Gardiner had endured many times including while filming her series and died with in August 2026.

BBC programme page

Wikipedia entry

Weaver's Week review