The Brits head to the isolated mining town of Ilakaka in Madagascar to discover where the gems and jewellery sold on the British high street come from. In the vast open-pit mines they join hundreds of workers in chain gangs digging for one of the most sought-after gems - sapphires. When this gets too much, they are shown the alternative, a 50-foot-deep mine shaft accessed by rope and pulley.

Episode 1, Gems

Factual

Documentary

Six young British consumers swap their luxury lives for the simple mud huts and shanty towns of Africa and Asia to work alongside the people who mine, manufacture, process and recycle luxury goods.

Blood, Sweat and Luxuries

Series 1

Six young British consumers work alongside people who mine and manufacture luxury goods.

One of Africa's poorest countries, Ethiopia, and its capital Addis Ababa where thousands of locals rely on the leather industry to survive. Working in abattoirs, tanneries and leather factories that supply shoes to Europe's high streets tempers begin to fray. The Brits join them in this process and start to realise that leather has such poor beginnings and is a luxury that is taken for granted.

Episode 2, Leather

The Brits leave Ethiopia's capital behind and travel south to the famous coffee plantations of Yirgacheffe and the remote mountain village of Biolya. Here, life gets even tougher as for the first time they have no help from a local family and must survive only on the wages paid to a coffee worker. But will they be able to do enough work to afford to eat and pay rent on their simple mud hut?

Episode 3, Coffee

The Brits travel to Ghana to mine one of our oldest and most precious luxuries, gold, but also discover the impact of one of Africa's newest imports, e-waste. Joining some of the thousands of men and women who mine gold by hand, the Brits struggle to cope as exhaustion bites, tempers fray and Shievonne collapses - making the Brits question if gold truly deserves its luxurious label.

Episode 4, Gold and E-waste

On the final leg of their journey the Brits leave Africa for the Philippines to discover where components for our mp3 players, DVDs and computers come from. They join the workers in the ultra-competitive world of electronics, where productivity is everything and factories produce hundreds of thousands of components a day.

Episode 5, Electronics

This final episode sees the Brits due to return home, but not before they learn the level of sacrifice the workers make to support their families. They also learn that the alternatives to factory life aren't quite what they seem as they meet the families who live and work on the city dumpsites. When they return to the UK, will their luxurious lives at home ever be the same again?