DigitalGhost

Any you would recommend? I've seen the occasional decent documentary from Canada but the only mainstream Canadian TV show anybody every really seems to talk about is the Trailer Park Boys.

But the internet definitely makes things easier these days although it's becoming harder to access iPlayer etc via a VPN.

seseman

oooh. I love me some EastEnders and Corrie . I like to use TV as background noise so maybe I wont mind the rubbish programs. So do you have to subscribe to cable to get any stations through? In the UK, you are guaranteed Freeview stations if you dont subscribe to Sky TV or any of those packages. That is what we have always had. As long as there is internet, I am sure we will be fine.

Jerseygirl

I am not aware of free channels. The TV companies usually sell ‘bundles’....depending on what channels you want. These range from a few basic channels, to dozens and dozens of channel, including premium channels ie HBO, STARZ etc. As previously mentioned there is no annual TV licence to pay for.

DigitalGhost

I have heard of some people using an antennae to access some basic TV channels and apparently it does work in Toronto but I'm not exactly sure what it would get you or what the quality is like. They colloquially refer to it as 'rabbit ears' and I don't think many people use it.

These days it's obviously less important though since you access watch TV online.

DigitalGhost

They're a few years behind the UK on it IIRC in the same way the UK TV channels can behind Australia when it comes to Aussie soaps. I'm not a fan of it tbh but being from Manchester, people used to ask me questions about certain characters and storylines in Coronation Street and seemed surprised when I didn't know what they were talking about.

Jerseygirl

I believe Corrie is approx 1 week behind the UK. It is shown on CBC at 7 pm.

DigitalGhost

Really? They must have caught up. I remember I saw one episode of it when I arrived in Canada for the first ever time years ago and when I told my Mum about it, she said that storyline had happened ages ago.

Obviously there was a gap of several months last year where it wasn't filmed or shown in the UK at all though and it's on every day in Canada as I recall.

Jerseygirl

I think it’s been 1 week behind for a few years now.

Corrie was never off the air in the UK, although they did cut the number of eps per week down from the usual 3 hrs. I think it was cut back to 3 x 30 min eps per week, can’t remember exactly. They had filmed enough eps to see them through lockdown.

DigitalGhost

Shows how much I follow these soap operas. Eastenders was off the air for a little while though wasn't it? I've sure I heard that one of them was and I remember them advertising 'look back' documentary things with Stacey Dooley.

Jerseygirl

You are quick off the draw this morning...I added to my post

I never cared for EE...too much shouting/arguing/strife for my liking.

DigitalGhost

My former partner and I actually both used to watch EastEnders in Canada but we'd watch the latest ones on iPlayer. I think it was just like a little taste of home at the time even though she was actually from Tokyo. I don't watch it anymore though. It's really depressing in the way that only a British soap ever could be. They can't have a Christmas without someone getting divorced, stabbed or leaving the square forever.

But anyway yeah seseman, if you enjoy UK soaps then Canada's got you covered there at least.

Jerseygirl

Unfortunately Corrie seems to have gone the same way.

Seseman...I do find watching UK TV a great help with homesickness. That and a couple of bars of Cadbury’s.

DigitalGhost

I'd definitely second this. It really does help and the fact British food can be found pretty much everywhere in Toronto makes it easier. It isn't prohibitively expensive either. The weekend concierge in my old apartment building turned out to be from Essex and told me about a local English chippy one day when I was paying the rent. That combined with some Tetley tea and rich tea biscuits from the local supermarket and a night in with some UK TV can really help if you're feeling homesick or lonely at the weekend.

I watched Coronation Street when I was with my family over Christmas because although my Mum has given up on most soaps these days, she still watches Corrie and Emmerdale. I didn't really understand what was going on though tbh.

Jerseygirl

It’s very different now than it was when we moved to the US in 1996. Phone calls cost a fortune, one call to my sister cost over $300. No Zoom or Face Time. British goodies were few and far between, there was no Amazon then. My MIL used to tape Corrie on a VHS tape and send it snail mail...Friday nights were Corrie and Cadbury night.

DigitalGhost

I think the influx of Indian and South East Asian immigrants may have helped to be honest. I once spent a month living in a shared house in North York whilst we looked for a more long term place and there was a small Indian supermarket nearby but pretty much everything in there was British. They had the same brands of curry paste, poppadum's etc that you find in Tesco but also British tea, biscuits, chocolate, instant coffee, cereal etc. I ended up talking to the guy in there and he said a lot of Indians eat British products at home but also it's easier to get food from the UK through Canadian customs than it is to import things stuff from India.

It will obviously help if you can become as accustomed to the Canadian stuff as possible though as it will save you a fortune in the long run. It was cheaper for us to have a breakfast of pancakes with maple syrup and ground coffee at the weekends than it would have been to have a cup of instant coffee and a bowl of cereal.