Brexit: Lockdown repeats of TV shows like A Place in the Sun show what leaving the EU has done – Helen Martin

There were so many important losses, collapses and problems with the pandemic lockdown that one aspect hardly ever mentioned or complained about was television.

Fortunately, Netflix, Amazon Prime etc, plus extra dramas provided on BBC and STV players rather than the main channels, gave us something to watch when we had to stay at home with cinemas and theatres shut down.

But almost everything listed on the standard channels, whether quiz shows, comedies or property programmes were repeats from the last few years.

C4’s A Place in the Sun was interesting for folks buying holiday homes, but quite “historical” with retiring British couples buying houses somewhere in Spain, Lanzarote, Cyprus or anywhere else warm, to spend the rest of their lives there or at least six months a year.

A New Life in the Sun filmed many people setting up their family lives and businesses in Europe, whether they were creating restaurants, cycling tours, holiday camps, hairdressers or pubs.

The golden key for them all was the European Union.

Continuing retirement there, ensuring health care, collecting pensions, staying for only three months, acquiring visas or arranging permanent residency, running businesses, sorting tax, declaring nationality etc are all among the various challenges now thanks to Brexit

Old TV shows about people from the UK making new lives in Europe are a reminder of the barriers created by Brexit (Picture: Getty)

Both those repeat programmes are still running Monday to Friday.

It would now be more interesting to see a new, updated series showing how some of those people reluctantly packed up and returned to the cold UK, and how others stayed, worked and lived in the sunny EU.

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