A new travel series that flips the concept of the luxury holiday show entirely on its head launched on TLC UK on April 12, 2026, and it has already got people talking. Zero Stars sends comedians and best friends Sara Pascoe and Roisin Conaty around the globe in search of the most dismal, catastrophically reviewed, and genuinely bewildering places that real holidaymakers have given the worst ratings imaginable — and it turns out that discovering what lies behind a one-star review is considerably more entertaining than watching someone sip champagne at a five-star resort.
What Is Zero Stars?
The premise is delightfully simple: Sara Pascoe and Roisin Conaty travel to destinations that have accumulated the funniest and most damning online reviews from previous visitors. They stay in the hotels, eat in the restaurants, and experience the attractions that have sent other travellers rushing to their keyboards to post one-star screeds. The catch is that they have to experience them with an open mind — and find out whether the reviews tell the whole story, or whether something genuinely wonderful might be lurking behind a terrible TripAdvisor rating.
It is a format built on the comedy of low expectations, and from the opening episodes it delivers on that premise with consistent warmth and a refreshing absence of meanness. Pascoe and Conaty are clearly genuine friends, and their chemistry carries the show through the inevitable moments when the reality of a zero-star experience turns out to be every bit as grim as advertised.
Sara Pascoe and Roisin Conaty: A Natural Double Act
The casting is perfect. Sara Pascoe, best known for her stand-up comedy and her appearances on QI, Would I Lie to You, and as a panellist on various panel shows, brings her sharp observational wit to the travel format. Roisin Conaty, the creator and star of GameFace and a regular on the stand-up circuit, provides an equal measure of irreverence and surprising emotional depth.
In interviews ahead of the launch, both comedians described the show as one of the most enjoyable projects they had worked on, partly because of the freedom that the format gave them. Rather than following a rigid script or a conventional travel show structure, they were essentially given permission to react genuinely to whatever they encountered — which, as anyone who has ever read a truly spectacular one-star review knows, can range from the mildly disappointing to the genuinely surreal.
The Format: A Global Tour of Catastrophic Reviews
The first series of Zero Stars consists of eight episodes, each set in a different location around the world. The locations have not all been revealed in advance — part of the appeal of the show is the element of surprise — but early press materials confirm visits to destinations in Europe, Asia, and further afield. In each location, the pair have to stay at a place with an average review score that hovers somewhere between dismal and catastrophic, eating at the lowest-rated local restaurants and sampling the area’s most reviled tourist attractions.
The show is careful not to be cruel. The focus is on the comedy of the situation and the gap between expectation and reality, rather than on humiliating the businesses or individuals behind the bad reviews. In several instances, the pair apparently find themselves unexpectedly charmed by places that have been savaged online, suggesting that a one-star rating does not always tell the complete story.
The Danish Original and Its UK Reinvention
British viewers may not be aware that Zero Stars is an adaptation of a Danish format. The original series was conceived by Copenhagen-based creative agency Liquidminds and launched on DR2 Denmark back in 2019, where it became a cult hit. The UK version, commissioned by Warner Bros. Discovery for TLC UK, is a full reimagining of the concept with a British sensibility and two of the country’s most beloved comedy voices at its centre.
The commission reflects growing appetite for travel content that feels authentic rather than aspirational — a reaction, perhaps, against the endless parade of Instagram-perfect destinations and luxury experiences that have dominated the genre for the past decade. Real travel, as anyone who has ever had a holiday go spectacularly wrong knows, is often funnier and more memorable than the polished version.
When and How to Watch Zero Stars
Zero Stars launched on TLC UK on Sunday April 12, 2026. New episodes air weekly, and all episodes will be available to stream via the Discovery+ platform. The full eight-episode first series is expected to conclude in early June 2026. If the early reaction is any guide, a second series is likely to follow — the combination of a strong format, perfect casting, and a genuinely entertaining premise makes this one of the fresher travel shows to arrive on British screens in some time.