How to watch The Interview in the UK today. Three ways to watch The Interview movie: via YouTube, iTunes and online, from the UK. (See also: How to watch US Netflix in the UK.) You are, of course, aware of The Interview. The Seth Rogen stoner comedy that kicked off an international incident. Not because of its underwritten if charming humour. No. The Interview is famous chiefly because its rights owner Sony has declined to release it outside of the US, in response to suspected cyber-espionage from North Korea – the subject of the fim’s satire. It is expected to be released internationally at some stage, but in the mean time you can watch The Interview in the UK. And here we outline how. How to watch The Interview on YouTube in the UK, how to watch The Interview via iTunes in the UK, and how to watch The Interview online, in the UK.
How to watch The Interview in the UK: via YouTube
This is fairly straightforward. The Interview is available to view on YouTube, but only in the US or Canada. Which means that when you visit the page from a computer with a UK IP address you will see a message telling you that it isn’t available to view in the UK. According to the official seetheinterview.com website, this situation should be resolved at some stage. But in the mean time we should say that right now you will be breaking the law if you show the US version to an audience in the UK. If you want to watch it, however, you need to use a VPN to visit the page with a US IP address, and then you need either a US credit- or debit card, or a US PayPal account. The former is easy to do. The latter requires you to know someone who lives in the US well enough for them to spot you $5.99 for the HD rental fee, and trusting enough to hand over their bank card details.
The easiest way to use a VPN to spoof a US IP address is to use the Hola unblocker browser plugin, which works with Chrome, Firefox or the Android OS. We used Google Chrome. Go to hola.org and click on Download. Install the plugin. It really is that simple. Now whenever you browse to a website, you will have the option of clicking the Hola logo in the top righthand corner of your browser, and choosing from which country you wish to appear. So – making sure you are not signed in to any Google accounts – browse to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed2kSuKqfz0 . You will see a trailer for The Interview, and have the opportunity to purchase the movie, or rent and view it. So far so simple. But now you have to box a little clever. Don’t be tempted to pay using your existing PayPal account: Google will smell a rat and decline the payment. No, you need to select payment via credit card, and input the details borrowed from a US friend. Pop them in, and watch the film. You have successfully defied Kim Jong-un. This time. (See also: Rip DVDs to iPhone 6, iPad Air 2 or Android Phone.)
How to watch The Interview in the UK: via iTunes
You can purchase The Interview on iTunes. But again, only in the US or Canada. The lands of the free. Here we need to do something similar to what we did with YouTube, but it gets a lot more complicated because you need a US-registered iTunes account. To create this, you need a (fake) US address and telephone number. We used Google Maps to pick a random store in the United States. You also need a spare email address that is not currently linked to any iTunes Account – we set up a fake email address with Outlook.com. And – yes – you need a US credit card. Again, do you know someone who trusts you enough to hand over their details and $14.99? Open iTunes, and sign out. Click ‘Account’, and click through to create a new Apple ID. You will need to provide your new email, and answer some questions about yourself. When you get to Provide a Payment Method, opt to change the country and select the US. Here you will need to add in your made up US billing address, and US bank details. Now when signed in to iTunes with this ID, you should be able to purchase US content such as The Interview. Whether you can view it is another question. It may be that – again – you need to spoof a US IP address. And this is not as easy with an Apple device. But it is possible…
This is not straightforward, and you may need to fiddle with some DNS settings. You can head to the network settings of your connected device and manually configure the settings, then you can enter a primary and secondary DNS (Domain Name Servers) numbers. You can search the internet for these (they change fairly regularly) and DroidKit has a good list which you can try. They are free, but get easily clogged up and slow. If you fail to get any of the free ones working, or don’t like the sound of it, then you can use a paid for service called Unblock Us. It costs $4.99 Canadian dollars per month but there’s a free trial so you can test it out before committing fully. The server numbers you need are 208.122.23.22 and 208.122.23.23. Unblock Us is compatible with various devices including games consoles, media streamers, Android, iOS and more. The site has good guides on how to change your DNS settings on specific devices. If you encounter any problems try a simple reboot of your device which normally fixes things. But, given the lukewarm reception enjoyed by The Interview, and the likelihood that it will one day soon be available over here (and the relative ease of using the YouTube hack), this may be the point to give up on viewing The Interview on iTunes.
How to watch The Interview in the UK: online
This is the easiest option we found – it requires a US credit card and the use of a VPN such as Hola.org. Install Hola as outlined above, and head over to seetheinterview.com. Click to rent the movie, and input your US credit card details. And away you go. (See also: How to watch US Netflix in the UK.)
Matt Egan is Global Editorial Director of IDG, publisher of Tech Advisor, and a passionate technology fan who writes on subjects as diverse as smartphones, internet security, social media and Windows.
