Gary Barlow’s Australia journey premiers on TV

Gary Barlow’s Food and Wine Tour: Australia, sponsored by Hays Travel, has aired on TV.

It was screened on ITV1 and will be available on ITVX.

In association with Tourism Australia, Rock Oyster Media produced the six-episode production for ITV, who recommissioned another ‘wine tour’ following the success of Gary Barlow’s Wine Tour: South Africa.

In each episode he travels to a different part of Australia meeting celebrity guests – including Sophie Ellis-Bexter, Dannii Minogue, Tim Minchin and Ronan Keating.

He learns more about winemaking and pairing local food and wine from chefs and wine producers.

The tour follows Gary across the Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia.

Lisa McAuley of Hays Travel said: “We are delighted to sponsor Gary Barlow’s Food and Wine Tour: Australia, with ITV and our partners at Tourism Australia. It’s a perfect fit for us, linking our work to increase long-haul bookings with the strong relationship we have with Tourism Australia.”

“With customers keen to see more of the world and enjoy new experiences we have seen growth in interest and bookings for Australia.”

The first episode was broadcast at 2.15pm Friday 11 April featuring New South Wales.

Tourism Australia and the State Tourism Offices of Western Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria, partnered to support the production.

The series features the cities of Sydney and Perth, the Red Centre, the coast of Queensland, and the wine regions of South Australia and Victoria.

The show was filmed to coincide with the singer’s 2024 tour around the country with Take That, who toured the country exactly 30 years after their first tour Down Under.

In each episode, he is joined by a British or Australian friend with whom he explores Australia’s unique culinary scene.

They meet inspiring Australian characters along the way, including tourism operators, chefs, brewers, winemakers and more.

Other well-known faces who appear in the series include Dannii Minogue, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Ronan Keating, Andi Peters, and John Bishop.

Tourism Australia said: “This is the first time Tourism Australia, and the State Tourism Offices have invested in a television series on this scale since 2019, so we’re thrilled to see Australia back on screens in the UK.

“We know from our tourism partners in the UK that broadcast still wields enormous influence with British travellers, who do pick up the phone and book the incredible journeys they see on screen.”