Take your favourite TV shows with you on holiday

But the universal availability of programmes on demand and in the palm of your hand has ushered in an era of viewing on sun loungers around Spanish pools. Why take in the local scenery when you can watch Michael Portillo looking at it from a train window?

However, there are financial and technical limits on what you can see. In particular, watching live British TV – the cricket or Wimbledon, for instance – is not possible on most channels, and on-demand programmes must be chosen before you leave in order to guarantee availability.

This is especially true of the BBC’s iPlayer, which is “geo-locked” to the UK, meaning that it checks the location of the internet service you’re using and kicks you off if it detects that you are somewhere else. On-demand as well as live programmes are off limits.

However, BBC TV and Channel 4 do allow you to download programmes for offline viewing before you leave Britain. These can then be viewed anywhere in the world, so long as you’re using the same device.

BBC radio is not affected by these restrictions; you can listen anywhere, in much the same way as on an actual radio. The BBC news website also works worldwide.

ITV also offers viewing of some programmes abroad – in the EU only – to those who choose to pay around £4 a month for its premium ITV Hub+ service, which also strips out the commercials. You need only subscribe for the months you need it, and you can sign into your account on most devices, though not on Freesat, Roku or Now TV boxes or on Samsung smart TVs made before 2012. You won’t be taking any of those to the Costa del Sol with you, though.

Netflix subscribers have an easier time of it; for most purposes it doesn’t care where you are, so long as there is a reliable and fast internet connection to the device you’re using. Sky subscribers can also watch with relative ease in the EU, using either the Sky Go, Sky Q or Sky Mobile TV app. Sports and movies are also supported – but make sure your mobile tariff includes unlimited data, since TV uses a great deal of it and it will cost a packet if you pay by the hour. EU regulations mean – for the moment – that you shouldn’t have to pay more for data outside the UK, but your mobile provider may still cap on your usage.

You don’t have to squint to see the picture on your phone – this sort of use is where iPads and their rivals come into their own, and some are cheap enough to buy just as holiday accessories. If they fall in the pool or get sand in the works, you can write it off to experience.

Amazon’s Fire range of tablets is by far the cheapest on the market, with seven-inch models currently around £45 and slightly bigger ones £10 more. They are loaded up with Amazon’s own software and not all apps are compatible, so check before you buy that the services you’re planning to use will work.

Taking the TV on a week’s break might still seem indulgent for a week’s break, but for those spending their summers or winters abroad, watching on the go is now a viable option. Whether it’s a facility that will survive Brexit is something on which Mr Portillo might be better placed to advise.