Wanted down under

I have over the years occasionally managed to watch this offering which forms part of the BBC's daytime schedule. The cynic in me wonders how staged everything is and the human in me wants to throw something at the screen almost every time I watch the program.

The premise underlying the program is to give a family of Brits the opportunity to sample life in Australia or New Zealand over a week and at the end of the week the family makes a decision as to whether they will move. The program, now in its fourth series was first presented by Nadia Sawalha, the grand dame of daytime telly in the UK. The family met in either Australia House or its Kiwi equivalent and were given a choice of lifestyles and a job to go with it. The choice was from city, country and coast. Initially the family chose which avenue they would go down but lately the program makers make the decision.

The family then go and try out the country and lifestyle of their choice. The first trial is to look at property bearing in mind potential available budget from the sale of their UK property. As with any property related items most of these people seem to be able to afford exorbitantly high budgets given their actual jobs. You don't actually need to go Down Under to know that you get more for your money in property terms there. Property prices in the UK are extortionately high for what you get, largely down to the likes of Phil, Kirsty, Lucy and Martin to name but four.

In the UK a house is now seen as an investment rather than a place to live. But this is a topic for another day.

The drawback to Down Under is if you decide to come back to the frozen north. The exchange rate is not great coming back and so unless you are extremely fortunate you will not be able to afford to come back to the 'luxury' you left.

Next is trial by job. Again it is generally well known that pay may not be as good Down Under but that the payoff is in terms of work/life balance. Cost of living for some things is good for some things bad but again ultimately you weigh up the pros and cons of the venture. Lifestyle Down Under is generally better than it is in Britain with a more outdoors focus and sport and encouragement to try things.

Lastly you undergo ordeal by DVD of messages from home from people you only saw a week or so ago. Always there are tears and self interest with parents and friends saying we don't want you to go but it's your life. Almost every program features a stroppy teenager who wanders round being moody and miserable and wants to listen to The Cure in their bedroom for five years.

Is the program bad? No. The problem is the participants who do not appear have spent as much time researching all of this, which they could do without going (except the job obviously), as I do contemplating cutting my toenails (which isn't very much). I have family in New Zealand and I wouldn't dream of making a decision on such a move unless I had spent several weeks out there first. After watching the program I am generally left with the opinion that many of the participants are attention seekers who want a free jolly to Oz or NZ at the licence fee payer's expense.