BBC Pulls Ozzy Osbourne Documentary Chronicling Rocker’s Final Years Just Hours Before Scheduled Airing

A planned BBC One documentary chronicling the final years of Ozzy Osbourne‘s life, Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home, was abruptly pulled from the network’s schedule on Monday (Aug. 18) just hours before it was slated to air with no explanation. According to a BBC report, the network had been expected to air the doc on Monday evening, it “has postponed the screening without giving reasons or a new transmission date.”

Osbourne died on July 22 at age 76, two weeks after performing his final show at his home soccer stadium, Villa Park, in Birmingham, England.

The film was described as a “moving and inspirational account” of the final chapter of Osbourne’s life, filmed over three years with participation from his wife/manager Sharon Osbourne, and two of the couple’s children, Jack and Kelly.

“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 doc was originally pitched as a chronicle of the Osbourne’s return to England after years of living in Los Angeles, serving as a kind of bookend to the family’ beloved MTV reality show, The Osbournes, which aired on the network from 2002-2005. That version, first pitched in 2002 as a reality show-like series called Home to Roost, evolved as Osbourne’s health deteriorated due to the effects of Parkinson’s disease and a series of surgeries on Ozzy’s neck and spine.

“Ahead of retirement, Ozzy is determined to perform one last time, for himself and for his fans. Whatever it takes,” the description continued. “Pulling off both the move and the gig will be a phenomenal achievement, and son Jack is worried about the toll of relocating to a country that his parents have barely spent time in over the last two decades, as well as the impact on their close-knit family dynamics. But Ozzy has never been a man to take no for an answer, and he sets about achieving his goals with the determination, blistering honesty and razor-sharp sense of humour that have endeared him to millions for over 50 years. He stops at nothing to make his body work as well as it used to, with the film capturing remarkable levels of resolve.”

A BBC spokesperson told US Weekly that “the film has moved in the schedules and we’ll confirm new [transmission] details in due course.”

The film will show Osbourne “heroically” fighting to get fit enough to perform at the moving, star-studded Back to the Beginning show, where he played solo and Black Sabbath sets from a goth-y throne alongside sets from Metallica, Slayer, Guns N’ Roses, Mastodon, Lamb of God, Yungblud and many more. Amid the “love, laughter and tears” and sweet family moments, the doc also reportedly features scenes of Ozzy’s adult children accepting that the end is nigh, as evidenced by Kelly’s comment that “Iron man wasn’t really made of iron,” in reference to one of Sabbath’s most iconic songs.

“We hope it brings comfort and joy to Ozzy’s fans and viewers as they remember and celebrate his extraordinary life,” BBC’s head of documentary commissioning, Clare Sillery, told BBC about the honor of filming the Osbournes during this difficult period. Two of the film’s executive producers told the BBC that it was an “inspiring and poignant” account of Ozzy working to play one last show.

“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 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.”