A day after postponing a planned Ozzy Osbourne documentary just before airtime, the BBC has said that the last-minute decision came at the family’s request. Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home was slated to air on Monday night (Aug. 18) but was removed from the schedule with no explanation.
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In a statement, the BBC said, “Our sympathies are with the Osbourne family at this difficult time. We are respecting the family’s wishes to wait a bit longer before airing this very special film. The new [transmission] date will be confirmed shortly.” No specific reason was given for the delay of the film, which was slated to cover the last three years of Osbourne’s life, with the participation of the rocker’s wife/manager, Sharon Osbourne, as well as two of their children, Jack and Kelly.
Osbourne died on July 22 at age 76 of a heart attack, just two weeks after performing for the final time at his home soccer stadium, Villa Park, in Birmingham, England at the all-star Back to the Beginning concert. His death came just 17 days after that triumphant all-day show where his peers paid tribute to the man and his music.
At press time no update was available on when the movie might air.
The film was originally pitched as a 10-part series called Home to Roost chronicling Ozzy and Sharon’s return to England after years of living in Los Angeles. But when Osbourne’s health began to deteriorate due to the effects of Parkinson’s disease and surgeries to correct neck and spine issues, the focus was shifted to an hour-long film covering the final years of his life.
“The resulting film is a moving portrait of one of the world’s most entertaining families at a pivotal moment in their history,” reads a description of the doc. “The strength of Ozzy and Sharon’s love for one another and their kids’ devotion to them is palpable. So too is the family’s acceptance of Ozzy becoming increasingly unwell.”
The film will reportedly show Osbourne “heroically” fighting to get in good enough shape to perform at the star-studded Back to the Beginning show, where he played brief solo and Black Sabbath sets from a throne on a bill that also included sets from Metallica, Slayer, Guns N’ Roses, Mastodon, Lamb of God, Yungblud and many more. Amid the “love, laughter and tears” and endearing family moments, the doc also reportedly features scenes of Ozzy’s adult children accepting that their father is dying, with daughter Kelly commenting that “Iron man wasn’t really made of iron,” in reference to one of Sabbath’s most beloved songs.
“Ozzy was loved by millions around the world not just for his music, but for his sense of mischief and his honesty, all of which we saw plenty of in the final years of his life,” said film executive producers Ben Wicks and Colin Barr. “But one thing shone through even more brightly to us and that was Ozzy’s intense love for his exceptional family who were by his side through it all.”
Though the fate of the BBC doc is up in the air, other posthumous Osbourne projects are still in the works, including a 100-minute Back to the Beginning: Ozzy’s Final Bow doc about the last concert due in theaters in early 2026, as well as the feature-length doc covering Ozzy’s six-year struggle to recuperate from a devastating 2019 fall, Ozzy Osbourne: No Escape From Now, which will debut on Paramount+ later this year. In addition, a memoir, Last Rites, is slated to hit shelves on Oct. 7 through Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Book Group.