The BBC said it pulled a new documentary detailing Ozzy Osbourne’s final years just hours before it was due to air at the behest of his family.
“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,” the BBC said in a statement to Us Weekly on Tuesday, August 19.
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A new Ozzy Osbourne documentary set to air in the U.K. on Monday, August 18, and detail the final years of the star’s life has been pulled from the schedule, the BBC confirmed to Us Weekly.
“The film has moved in the schedules, and we’ll confirm new [transmission] details in due course,” a BBC spokesperson said in a statement to Us.
Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home was set to air Monday night on BBC One, just weeks after the Black Sabbath frontman’s death at age 76 on July 22.
In an announcement earlier in August, the BBC described the film as a “moving and inspirational account of the last chapter of Ozzy’s life, told through unique and intimate access to the whole Osbourne family, including [Ozzy’s wife] Sharon, [son] Jack and [daughter] Kelly.”
The project was initially conceived in 2022 as a new docuseries following Ozzy and Sharon, 72, returning to the U.K. after decades of living in Los Angeles. The show was envisioned as a spiritual successor to the family’s hit MTV reality show, The Osbournes, which aired from 2002 to 2005.
The film follows the couple’s move back to their native U.K., Ozzy’s battle with Parkinson’s disease and his preparations for Black Sabbath’s final concert, which took place just two weeks before his death.
“it was an incredible privilege to spend the last few years with Ozzy, as well as Sharon, Jack and Kelly. Ozzy wanted to make it back to the U.K. and appear on stage one last time — our film is an inspiring and poignant account of him fulfilling that dream,” executive producers Ben Wicks and Colin Barr said in a statement earlier in August.
The producers continued, “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. 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.”
Ozzy’s family announced his death in a statement to Us on July 22. “It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,” the family said. “He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.”
Ozzy was laid to rest following a funeral in his hometown of Birmingham on July 30.