How to avoid travel disasters – with Wanted Down Under

I still remember the day I was summoned to my boss’ office in 2012 and asked if I'd series produce Wanted Down Under – the BBC One series which sends families off to Australia or New Zealand for a week before they decide whether or not to emigrate there for good.

'Brilliant!' I thought. 'Amazing!' In my head I already had my bags packed, and was living a life by the beach. Unfortunately though the reality was slightly different. My Antipodean adventure was to be lived out over the phone from an office in not so sunny Belfast.

In February, at the end of the 10th series, I’ll be hanging up my cork-adorned hat and handing Wanted over to a new team. And it’s fair to say my three and a half years on the show have been as much of a roller-coaster ride as the emotional journeys our families experience on the show.

Sending 20 families and four producers every year to the other side of the world for an intensive period of filming certainly comes with its own unique set of challenges – from dealing with kids falling off airport trolleys to losing expensive kit at the bottom of the Indian Ocean. Here’s how I personally managed to (mostly) avoid disaster during my time on the show.

1. Plan, plan, plan

With just two days between each of our families departing Australia and the next one arriving, ensuring everything sticks to schedule is key. 

Even just getting our families down under can cause problems. One year we had a frantic phone call from parents to say our travel company had helpfully booked their two young children on a separate flight from their mum and dad. And this year, a producer turned up to film a family arriving in Adelaide only to discover their flight had been delayed by eight hours in Malaysia. With no room for slippage, that meant they were filming well into the night – not ideal after an exhausting long haul flight!

2. Always have a back-up

Once we’ve chosen our families and organised their trip, experience has taught us that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll end up appearing on the show. 

Over my time on the show we’ve lost families due to illnesses, bosses refusing to grant time off, cold feet about appearing on TV, and even unfortunately couples separating (not once, but twice).

It means a mad scramble to cancel flights, find a family to jet off to Australia at almost impossibly short notice, and research, set up and complete all their filming in the UK before the producer leaves for down under. Back-up families are a requirement when casting now!

3. Having a good team is everything…

I’ve been very lucky on Wanted to work with some really talented producers. The show requires not only good technical skills (all our producers film the shows themselves, apart from in New Zealand where we use a cameraman) but also being on call for families day or night. 

Like the producer one year – who on a rare day off – got a call from a distraught mum in floods of tears. Her family had become lost on their way to the airport and spent two hours driving round Auckland in circles. After jumping in her own car and eventually tracking them down, our producer led them out to the airport and merrily waved them on their way as they caught their flight in the nick of time.

4. …but remember they’re only human!

Possibly the biggest challenge we faced making this year’s series was when one of our producers in Australia was taken ill. We had no choice but to get him home quickly, but with only three days before the next family was due to arrive, we suddenly faced having no one to make the show.

Getting someone to Australia in time wasn’t an option. So thus began a weekend of more frantic phone calls, desperately trying to track down a producer in Australia who’d be in the right city at the right time and be able to get up to speed in the show over the course of a weekend.

Amazingly, thanks to the efforts of our production manager, we managed to pull it off. Copies of the show were sent via email, and I had telephone conversations to explain the format. The producer we hired did a cracking job, and come January when those episodes air on BBC One, hopefully they won’t look any different for viewers!

5.Don’t put your phone on 'do not disturb' at night

Unfortunately four teams shooting on the other side of the world simultaneously means a good night’s sleep isn’t guaranteed. Previous Wanted series producers swap tales of how many times they’ve been woken when something’s gone awry in Australia.

I got off pretty lightly – with only three mid-slumber calls. One was from an alarmed producer who on bringing a family to their accommodation for the week found it flea-ridden and filthy. Mum was in tears – understandably after their flight all they wanted to do was sleep in clean surroundings. Managing somehow to be coherent at 3.30am, we thankfully got them re-accommodated quickly.

My most recent early AM call? A producer whose phone developed a habit of calling me randomly from his pocket. We soon put a stop to that!

While I am looking forward to having my phone on silent while I sleep, and not checking my emails bleary-eyed before I’m even out of bed in the morning, I will miss being a part of the show. Out of the 70 families that have made the trip down under since I started on the series, almost 30 have either made the move or are in the throes of doing it. As we say in the office it really is a show that changes lives.

Simon Miller is series producer on Wanted Down Under.

Wanted Down Under, series 10, continues on Tuesday, 5 January at 11am on BBC One. Each episode will be available to watch in BBC iPlayer for 30 days after broadcast on TV.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.