BBC Pulls Ozzy Osbourne Documentary Hours Before Its Scheduled to Air

An Ozzy Osbourne documentary didn’t air as planned. Fans of the late Black Sabbath singer were just hours away from seeing Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home when the BBC “postponed the screening without giving reasons or a new transmission date.”

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In a statement to US Weekly, a BBC spokesperson said that “the film has moved in the schedules.” The spokesperson added that the network will “confirm new details in due course.”

Initially scheduled to air on Aug. 18, the documentary was filmed during Osbourne’s last years.

Expectation, the production company behind the film, said it was a “moving and inspirational account” of Osbourne’s final chapter.

The company additionally said that, while making the doc, it was given “unique and intimate access” into Osbourne’s family. That included his wife, Sharon Osbourne, and kids, Jack Osbourne and Kelly Osbourne.

The doc included storylines such as the Osbournes move back to the U.K. and the icon’s battle with Parkinson’s disease. During that time period, Osbourne “heroically” fought to return to the stage, the BBC said.

Osbourne managed to do just that at the triumphant Back to the Beginning concert. At the show, he gave an epic farewell performance and reunited with his Black Sabbath bandmates.

Ozzy Osbourne’s Death

After the concert but before Osbourne’s death, his wife sat down for an interview with Pollstar to reflect on his last performance.

“[Ozzy] turned around and he said to me that night, he said, ‘I had no idea that so many people liked me,’” she told the outlet. “Ozzy’s always been in his own bubble.”

It was just weeks days after that interview that Osbourne died following his decades-long health battle. He was 76.

In the end, producers said that the film would show the Osbournes accept the reality of their patriarch’s health situation.

“We hope it brings comfort and joy to Ozzy’s fans and viewers as they remember and celebrate his extraordinary life,” Clare Sillery, BBC head of documentary commissioning, said.

Ben Wicks and Colin Barr, executive producers at Expectation, seconded that in a statement.

“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,” they said. “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.”

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