Walks Around Britain (TV series)

Walks Around Britain is a documentary series about walking that was first broadcast on Community Channel television in 2016. The series is based on the website of the same name and is an integral part of the brand. The series is designed to inspire more viewers to get outside and go walking, and as such features a wide range of routes, but mainly ones which most viewers can actually get out and do.

A second series started in May 2016, a third in early 2017 and a fourth in mid-2018. A fifth series was aired in 2018/2019, and the sixth will form part of the exclusive content produced for the Walks Around Britain+ video on-demand subscription website before being broadcast on linear television.

The series differs from many other programmes about walking as it rarely leaves the walking route at all. This is due to lead presenter and producer Andrew White being fed up with programmes being seemingly about walking, but where the presenter leaves the walk to undertake ghyll scrambling or coasteering. He devised a format guide for the series, with six rules which all the programmes would follow, including "the walk is the star" and "we never do anything a regular walker couldn't" – meaning the presenters don't get an all-access pass to places just because they are on television.

The series is also different in being based on a first-run syndication model – more commonly used in the United States. The relaxing of the rules from the regulator Ofcom in 2011 allows Walks Around Britain to be funded by product placement, with companies ranging from outdoor clothing manufacturers to rail companies paying to be inside the programmes. Once produced, the programmes are licensed to a range of broadcasters in the UK and around the world. Currently, the series is broadcast on 20 channels in the UK, and because dates and times of showings are decided by the individual television stations, it is possible to find the same edition of Walks Around Britain showing on two different channels at the same time.

It covers various subjects relating to both the natural and social history of the walks featured in the programme, and as with the website, the TV series includes walks on the Crown Dependencies of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

In December 2016, the first reversion of the series format, The Great Glen Way – A Walks Around Britain Special, was screened on Community Channel. This took the established format and expanded it to cover one long-distance walking trail – The Great Glen Way between Fort William and Inverness. The usual 22-minute format was expanded to 44 minutes to fit into an hour time slot. Community Channel premiered it at Christmas 2016, with the other broadcasters following afterwards. This led to the idea of producing regular specials featuring some of the other shorter long-distance trails, which often don't get a lot of publicity.