How is Race Across the World filmed? The creators share everything you need to know

Phil: “As series producer, I oversee the casting, the routes and health and safety. There’s many of us, but looking after the whole series together.

“In terms of choosing this route, we’re always [for] something that will take in different landscapes, different cultures. Something that will really get us to go on a physical journey through the sea, through the jungle. So making sure that it is a route that has diversity and that everything in the series has an arc – but also that every episode has an identity. 

“We have a team on the ground on location and we also have a team in London, who are working when we’re sleeping. The race never stops, so we’ve always got someone there.”

Lewis: “One of the things that I enjoy about the role on Race is that you really are managing a team, looking out for everyone there, making sure that you’re getting all the things that you need to produce. This is an absolute team effort.”

Speaking about the dynamic of the contestants and cameramen, Lewis added: “I really do think that the pair, the team, is really the makeup of those two and the producer director – that’s the three of us, the people doing their sleeping on the floor or going on the buses. My role is doing exactly what they do all the time.”

Phil: “With each team, there is the [cameraman], the producer director, who also has with them an assistant producer, who does sound, and the entire time, I think I must get about 2,000 WhatsApps every day explaining what they’re doing, where they are, what decisions they’re making. So that we in the production team, the checkpoint and in London, can follow the story of what’s going on, to make sure that – just like any production and just like any story – any thread that is started is finished. 

“Stories have beginnings, middles and ends. And these guys, usually these guys are fantastic, but they’re also sleeping in bus stations and probably having two meals a day, if that (maybe crisps and custard creams). So we’re keeping an eye on the story arc and that involves us getting a lot of WhatsApps from the team on the ground with them. 

“They also have a support vehicle with a driver. We’ve got what we call an MSA, a multi-skilled agent, who does security and he’s also a medic, should anything happen. 

“So every time anyone gets on a bus, stays in a hotel, crosses the road, there’s someone out there looking after their safety. They’re walking through dodgy parts, they’re keeping an eye, looking around them. 

“And then on top of that, we’ve got a researcher and a fixer. The fixer is someone who speaks the local language. I’ll be running on getting release forms of everyone, getting location releases, and our researcher is also picking up GPS, so communicating with the PD, saying they’ll be in the support vehicle. They’ll travel ahead of the bus so then someone is there to pick them up. On the other end, [the cameraman] is on that bus. So it’s a huge amount of logistics within the team, and then we’ve got five [pairs] going on at the same time, making sure that all that happens.”

Lewis: “I think it makes great TV. I think all PDs are different, but my preference is to know everything about where they’re heading or where they might head. 

“I’m a bit of a map nerd, so I’ll check things out, I’ll be looking at the timetable, so the moment they’re making a wrong decision, I’ll be able to know that. 

“That means I’ll be able to feel where things are going to head. If I didn’t know and found out we were on the wrong bus, I think I’d just be as perplexed as they were. So I’ll go through the trauma a bit earlier than they do!”

Lewis: “It’s just a chance to recoup and chat to the wider team, feeding back about story arcs and if we’re covering what we were expecting to cover. A chance to see what we achieved, what new stories came up. But mentally recharging is definitely top of the list.”

Phil: “We send someone on a recce of the route before we go on it. It’s someone who has no idea of where they’re going so they have the same experience as the contributors in the programme. They go on the route – again with security and a medic and also someone from production – and they basically work out all of the logistics that we need to know of how they can do that route. 

“What they spend on that recce gives us an idea of what budget we should give the contributors in the race as well. They can obviously top that up along the way, so we try and work it out so it’s tight but not so tight that they can’t enjoy themselves but not so generous that it’s easy. It’s a difficult calculation.”