The Rose family are heading to the BBC, as all episodes of the award-winning Canadian sitcom ‘Schitt’s Creek’ arrive on BBC iPlayer this June.
Created by father-and-son duo Eugene Levy (American Pie, Best in Show) and Dan Levy (The Big Brunch, Good Grief), the much-loved comedy follows the spectacular downfall, and very gradual emotional rehabilitation, of the once-obscenely wealthy Rose family.
After losing almost everything when their business manager embezzles the family fortune, video store magnate Johnny Rose, his former soap opera star wife Moira, and their adult children David and Alexis find themselves with only one asset left: the small town of Schitt’s Creek, which Johnny once bought as a joke. With nowhere else to go, the family move into two adjoining rooms at the local motel and are forced to rebuild their lives in a place which is about as far from their old world of private jets, designer wardrobes and questionable rich-person life choices as it is possible to get.
At the centre of the show are Eugene Levy as Johnny Rose, the comparatively sensible head of the family who is desperately trying to hold everyone together, and Catherine O’Hara (Beetlejuice, Home Alone) as Moira Rose, a gloriously theatrical former soap star with a wig collection, a baffling accent, and a vocabulary that appears to have been assembled from a haunted thesaurus. They are joined by Dan Levy as David Rose, the family’s magnificently anxious, sharply dressed son, and Annie Murphy (Kevin Can F**k Himself, Russian Doll) as Alexis Rose, whose past as an international party girl involved far more hostage situations and yacht-based disasters than you might expect.
What begins as a classic fish-out-of-water sitcom gradually becomes something much warmer. Yes, there is plenty of comedy in watching the Roses attempt to survive motel life, small-town politics, and the indignity of not being able to simply buy their way out of every problem. But the reason ‘Schitt’s Creek’ became such a huge word-of-mouth hit is that it slowly, carefully, and very funnily turns into a story about people becoming better versions of themselves.
Over the course of its six-season run, the show builds out the town around the Roses with a brilliant supporting cast, including Chris Elliott (Groundhog Day, How I Met Your Mother) as motel owner Roland Schitt, Jennifer Robertson (Ginny & Georgia) as Jocelyn Schitt, Emily Hampshire (12 Monkeys) as Stevie Budd, and Noah Reid (Franklin) as Patrick Brewer. The relationships between the characters, particularly David and Patrick, helped the series become beloved not just as a comedy, but as a refreshingly kind, inclusive and emotionally satisfying piece of television.
The show originally premiered in Canada in 2015 and ran for 80 episodes, ending in 2020. Its final season went out on a massive high, sweeping the major comedy categories at the Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series, Lead Actor for Eugene Levy, Lead Actress for Catherine O’Hara, Supporting Actor for Dan Levy, and Supporting Actress for Annie Murphy. Not bad for a show that started with a family losing everything and moving into a motel in a town they bought as a punchline.
For anyone who somehow missed it the first time around, this is a very easy one to binge. It is sharp, ridiculous, deeply quotable, and far more heartfelt than its title might suggest. For everyone else, it is probably just an excuse to revisit Moira’s wigs, David’s jumpers, Alexis’ hand gestures, and the eternal mystery of how one actually folds in the cheese.
‘Schitt’s Creek’ premieres Saturday, 6th June 2026 on BBC iPlayer.
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