How to watch Only Connect season 20 online: stream the UK's toughest quiz show from anywhere

Only the U.K. could produce a quiz show like Only Connect . There's no prize money. The questions are, in their own words, "Deliciously devious and maddeningly abstract". And the contestants delight in the fact that they have absolutely no business being on television.

Read on for how to watch Only Connect online and from anywhere with a VPN .

Premiere Time: 8 pm UK (BST) / 3 pm ET / 12 pm PT / 5 am AEST (Tues)
UK: BBC iPlayer (free)
How to use a VPN to watch Only Connect from anywhere

If you haven't caught this mind-Olympics, Only Connect has been on TV since 2008 and is now entering its 20th season under the watchful gaze of presenter Victoria Coren Mitchell, who not only refuses to age but seems so perfectly at home behind that big desk that she is probably wearing slippers.

There are four rounds: Connections; Sequences; Connecting Wall; and, Missing Vowels. All are mind-bogglingly hard.

Fun fact: Victoria Cohen is married to David Mitchell , the British actor best known for his role in Peep Show and for captaining another hugely popular UK quiz show, Would I Lie to You?

Ready to test your little grey cells? Here's how to watch Only Connect from anywhere in the world. We've got all the information you'll need below.

How to watch Only Connect online in the UK for free

The new series of Only Connect will air on BBC Two on Monday, August 12 at 8 pm BST . And then at the same time every Monday.

It will then be available on BBC iPlayer shortly after broadcast.

BBC two and iPlayer are free to watch for license fee payers. If you're trying to access iPlayer while traveling outside the UK, you might want to use a VPN to allow you to watch iPlayer from anywhere .

Can I watch Only Connect online in the US?

The U.S. does not broadcast the BBC quiz Only Connect but UK citizens in the States anxious not to miss the new season can catch the show with a VPN. We've got all the details you need for that below .

Can I watch Only Connect online in Australia?

It doesn't look like Only Connect is airing in Australia at the moment (selected episodes were formerly available via SBS Viceland and Freeview Australia ).

For now, if you’re a Brit abroad looking to stream Only Connect , you’ll want to look into purchasing VPN. You’ll find all the details on how to do that here .

How to watch Only Connect from anywhere with a VPN

If you're traveling outside the UK, you can watch Only Connect on the BBC iPlayer streaming by using a VPN – no matter where you are in the world!

Normally a streaming service will know where you are trying to tune in from and block you if you're not in the right country but a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is an app that hides your location. That means you can access your usual sports and entertainment services even while you're traveling abroad.

Our favorite VPN is NordVPN , which is the No. 1-rated VPN in the world right now according to our sister site, TechRadar.

How to use a VPN to watch any stream

How to use a VPN to watch any stream

• Download the app at NordVPN
• Choose the location of the streaming service you want to watch – in this case, the UK
• Navigate to the streaming service and start watching!

NordVPN is one of the simplest and most affordable ways to watch what you want, from wherever you want to watch it.

It's straightforward and easy to use, has great security, is available on loads of streaming devices and, best of all, it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee , so you can try it out 100% risk-free. Give it a go. VIEW DEAL ON

What you need to know about Only Connect

Isn't Only Connect remarkably similar to the New York Times puzzle Connections?

Victoria Coren Mitchell certainly thinks so.  On 12 June last year, the NYT revealed “Connections”, the paper’s new game - a grid of 16 words that need sorting into four connecting groups of four.

“Very excited to share the game I’ve been working on, Connections! I’ve loved making it, and hope you enjoy playing,” the paper's Games Editor Wyna Liu tweeted.

Two days later Coren Mitchell responded:  “Do you know this has been a TV show in the UK since 2008?!... It’s so similar I guess you must do?”

The NYT denied any, er... connection.

How hard are the questions on Only Connect?

The following example question is from the Missing Vowels round on Season 15, Episode 28:

Q: These are all items of food and their approximate shape: GGN DVD / RNGD GHN TND TRS / P RNG LND HYPR BL CP RB LD / D RT NDSS CLS TRNG L. As they often say, it's the brain-teasing quiz where knowledge only gets you so far. See the FAQs at the bottom for the answer.

A: Egg and ovoid / Ring Doughnut and Torus / Pringle and hyperbolic paraboloid / Dorito and Isosceles triangle. Obviously.