So I downloaded iPlayer and ITV Hub from my country, I also have a UK play store account which I used to download the apps, however every time my Shield goes to sleep, the app is disabled and I have to go in the play store and enable it again. Is there a way to stop this happening?
I shut off Location Services, and manually set my location to United States in Settings so I could keep my always-on Google Assistant (I'm in Canada where it's not supported). Didn't seem to mess anything up, and I still get Canadian Netflix. I think it gets location data from my phone for the apps but the system itself depends on what I lied to it. Maybe this might work for you, setting your location to the UK.
If loaded via the store, sideload?
If sideloaded, disable the store till you need it again?