Ozzy Osbourne’s death in July, just 17 days after his final Black Sabbath performance in Birmingham, casts an unforgettable shadow over Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home, the new BBC documentary charting the rock legend’s return to England. What was meant to be a lighthearted chronicle of a couple’s relocation now plays like a haunting, unexpectedly poetic epilogue to the Prince of Darkness’s extraordinary life.
The one-hour special, salvaged from footage originally shot for a 10-part reality series, follows Ozzy and Sharon’s move back to their Buckinghamshire home after decades in Los Angeles. While the show focuses on renovations, farewells and family debates over where the Osbournes should settle, every frame is steeped in devastating dramatic irony. Sharon calls it their “last chapter” in England, while Ozzy confesses he never wanted to become American. With candid wit, he jokes that what he’s most looking forward to in a British summer is “Wimbledon.”
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Behind the humor lies the weight of Ozzy’s struggles. Diagnosed with a slow-progressing form of Parkinson’s disease and recovering from a spinal injury, the 76-year-old battled declining health but ultimately died of a sudden heart attack. His reflections in the documentary, particularly on the existential necessity of performing live—“I need the audience like air”—now carry an almost prophetic resonance.
Though the programme highlights his final concert and family life, it deliberately avoids being a straightforward career retrospective. Instead, it is an intimate portrait of Ozzy’s enduring bond with Sharon, his wife of 43 years. The couple’s relationship—tested by addiction, infidelity and decades of fame—is presented with warmth and brutal honesty. Ozzy admits he “can’t live without her,” while Sharon balances the pull between her husband’s wishes and her children’s desire to keep their parents close in the U.S.
Like The Osbournes reality show two decades earlier, Coming Home brims with candid humor and chaotic domestic moments. Yet, its closing sequence is unshakably moving: as footage of Ozzy’s funeral procession through Birmingham plays, his voiceover insists, “It’s been a great life. I wouldn’t change a damn thing.”
Initially scheduled for August but pulled after his death, the documentary could easily have felt exploitative. Instead, it emerges as an elegant and deeply personal farewell, more love story than rockumentary. It’s less about burnishing Ozzy’s legend than showing the man behind it—vulnerable, flawed, funny, and, above all, devoted to the family who stood beside him.
Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home is available now on BBC iPlayer in the UK and will air on ABC Entertains and ABC iview on October 12 in Australia.
