BBC TV reality series set to showcase New Zealand lifestyles to British migrants

World-wide reality TV show-maker the BBC is set to give New Zealand a huge burst of prime-time exposure to a television audience of millions.

The BBC is spending five weeks in New Zealand filming a long-running series titled Wanted DownUnder – where ‘typical’ British families look at immigrating to start new lives in a far off country.

As part of the filming, the five families involved spend a week exploring the employment market, schooling, social activities, and housing options, to get a complete picture of what their new lives could be like in New Zealand.

This year the BBC is bringing out five families to the Greater Auckland region to showcase what their news lives could consist of. Leading real estate agency Bayleys has been selected as the primary property company to showcase more than a dozen houses to the families during their time in Auckland in an ‘open home’ type format.

Bayleys has previously worked with the BBC on a number of Wanted DownUnder episodes – showcasing homes to families wanting to move to the Christchurch, Auckland, and Wellington regions. Filming of Bayleys’ listings this year has been scheduled to take place on Auckland’s North Shore, the western suburbs, as far north as the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, and on the city’s southern outskirts.

Planning for the series has already been underway for some months now - with a New Zealand-based researcher creating varied itineraries for each of the hosted families, and a BBC production crew now on location filming the individual drama-packed episodes.

Bayleys managing director Mike Bayley said the company’s filming arrangement with the BBC delivered an outstanding opportunity to promote the Auckland lifestyle to a massive UK audience of millions of viewers.

“Exposure on this scale to one of this country’s key immigration markets is an incredible opportunity for the New Zealand brand. It’s also a fantastic opportunity for those British families coming here for the filming to see first hand just what life is like in Auckland, and what sort of homes they will be able to afford,” Mr Bayley said.

“The publicity New Zealand gets from this show when it screens in the UK is worth tens of millions of dollars. It’s the sort of coverage that New Zealand’s tourism bodies could normally never afford in their budgets.”

Bayleys has arranged to profile a selection of Auckland three and four-bedroom properties worth between $320,000 and $650,000 - showing British audiences what their UK pound can buy when they immigrate to New Zealand.

“Partnership opportunities like this rarely come along. Bayleys was justifiably excited about adding this promotional activity to our already strong international marketing campaigns – adding value to our customer relationships and bringing in a whole new category of potential buyer.”

Wanted DownUnder typically screens during the British winter months. There is the potential that the current series of Wanted DownUnder being filmed in and around Auckland could appear on New Zealand TV screens some time in 2013.