I’ve come to România from the UK on holiday and randomly checked to see if I can access Eastenders on the iPlayer on my phone and… it works a treat. Without a VPN, using roaming mobile data and with no connection issues at all. Any idea why this might be? I’m not complaining!
Pure luck I expect! 
The BBC website decides where you are based on your IP address.
Either the Romanian IP block isn’t in their list of foreign addresses or something else broke.
There could also be some caching of DNS data within your browser or computer. I’ve noticed that if I load the BBC website using a VPN here in the UK (usually by accident) I’ll get the international version, but if I disconnect and refresh, a cookie or something has already decided that I’m a foreigner and keeps sending me the international version. The same is probably happening to you, but in reverse.
It’s because if you use mobile roaming the data is sent via your home mobile network so it looks like you’re in the UK. It’s how the 3G/4G standard works.
iPlayer actually only used to work on certain mobile networks because of the risk of this…
Because you’re using phone data which goes back via UK. Doesn’t seem to work for every service though. The moment you use WiFi it will know you’re abroad.
Thanks. That’s really handy to know!