CBC original titles include FREEUP! EMANCIPATION DAY 2025: JOKES, JOKES, JOKES (July 30), a fresh take on marking Emancipation Day with truth, joy and resistance; season 3 of time travel anthology drama PLAN B (Aug. 8) starring Carolina Bartczak; season 6 of THE NEW WAVE OF STANDUP (Aug. 29), spotlighting Canada’s hottest new comics; the eighteenth iteration of SHORT FILM FACE OFF (Aug. 30), showcasing nine new short films from across Canada; and three new documentaries from ABSOLUTELY CANADIAN
Acclaimed series available to stream in August include season 2 of Australian comedy COLIN FROM ACCOUNTS (Aug. 1); seasons 1, 2 and 3 of BAFTA Award-winning parenting comedy MOTHERLAND (Aug. 8) from co-creator Sharon Horgan (Bad Sisters) and the exclusive Canadian premiere of single-mom spinoff AMANDALAND (Aug. 22); seasons 3, 4 and 5 of acclaimed high school football drama FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (Aug. 1, Aug. 15 & Aug. 29); season 4 of Golden Globe-winning drama THE AFFAIR, starring Dominic West, Ruth Wilson, Maura Tierney and Joshua Jackson (Aug. 22); seasons 5 - 8 of Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein’s sketch comedy PORTLANDIA (Aug. 1, Aug. 8, Aug. 15 & Aug. 22); and seasons 2 & 3 of Canadian medical drama MARY KILLS PEOPLE (Aug. 15 & 29)
Lifestyle offerings include season 8 of countryside renovation series CHATEAU DIY (Aug. 1) and international luxury cuisine takes centre stage in the exclusive Canadian premiere of BIG ZUU AND AJ TRACEY'S RICH FLAVOURS (Aug. 8)
Films available to stream in August include Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut, Academy Award®-nominated coming-of-age story LADY BIRD (Aug. 22), and Australian drama THE ROYAL HOTEL (Aug. 29) starring Julia Garner
CBC Gem is Canada’s streaming service, offering more than 6500 hours of live and on-demand Canadian programming and a curated selection of acclaimed, best-in-class content from around the world, including more than 400 documentary features, more than 700 hours of ad-free content for kids and tweens, and a collection of over 400 Canadian feature films. CBC Gem is available free as an app for iOS and Android devices and online at CBCGem.ca, and on TV screens via Roku, Samsung, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, LG, Google Chromecast, Android TV and Xbox.
For screening links or more information about any of the titles, please contact Kaari Sinnaeve at kaari.sinnaeve@cbc.ca Note: This schedule is subject to change.
For images from CBC Gem titles, click here. Please credit Courtesy of CBC Gem.
CBC ORIGINAL SERIES
FREEUP! EMANCIPATION DAY 2025: JOKES, JOKES, JOKES (8x6, Comedy, Emancipation Arts)
Begins streaming Wednesday, July 30
FREEUP! EMANCIPATION DAY 2025: JOKES, JOKES, JOKES is a fresh take on marking Emancipation Day in Canada — an eight-episode comedy series for CBC Gem that centres truth, joy and resistance. Each digital short features one of Canada’s sharpest comics — Chris Robinson, Lisa Berry, Daniel Woodrow, Ngozi Paul, Keesha Brownie, Alan Shane Lewis, Hoodo Hersi and Tamara Shevon — taking the mic to share stories, observations and moments only they could deliver. This is freedom experienced live and unfiltered through humour, honesty and the immediacy of stand-up comedy. From family dynamics and historical absurdities to everyday truths, FREEUP! EMANCIPATION DAY 2025 is an open invitation to laugh, think, and genuinely connect. Because sometimes the most radical thing we have is laughter.
PLAN B Season 3 (6x60, Drama, KOTV)
Begins streaming Friday, August 8
The third season of the time-travel anthology adapted from the Radio-Canada original series. Abigail Walker (Carolina Bartczak, Painkiller, X-Men: Apocalypse), a woman devastated by her daughter Lucy's (newcomer Arianna Shannon) suicide, repeatedly travels back in time to prevent it. Each attempt to alter the past leads to unforeseen consequences, forcing Abigail to confront difficult truths about her relationships and the limitations of her control over Lucy’s life.
Season 3 also stars Arnold Pinnock (The Porter, Combat Hospital), Ennis Esmer (Children Ruin Everything, Blindspot), Jaeden Noel (Orphan Black: Echoes, Invasion), Carolyn Taylor (Baroness von Sketch Show, I Have Nothing) and Grace Lynn Kung (Sort Of, Fallout).
THE NEW WAVE OF STANDUP Season 6 (14x10, Comedy, Just for Laughs and Northwest Comedy)
Begins streaming Friday, August 29
Fourteen of Canada’s hottest new comics gathered for one hilarious night of standup as part of the JFL NorthWest Festival in Vancouver. These rising stars each headline their own 10-minute episode exclusively for CBC Gem.
SHORT FILM FACE OFF Season 18 (4x60 + nine short films, Arts/Competition)
Begins streaming Saturday, August 30 (weekly episodes)
Nine filmmakers from across Canada face off for the chance to win the Telefilm Canada Short Film Face Off Award, including a cash prize toward the filmmaker's next project, as chosen by the audience via online voting. Amanda Parris (For the Culture with Amanda Parris) returns as host and panelists include Eli Glasner, Magali Simard and Mohit Rajhans. Learn more about the nine short films in competition.
ACCLAIMED SERIES
COLIN FROM ACCOUNTS Season 2 (8x30, Comedy, Easy Tiger/CBS Studios, Australia)
Begins streaming Friday, August 1
Centred on Ashley and Gordon, two single-ish, complex humans who are brought together by a car accident and an injured dog. Flawed, funny people choosing each other and being brave enough to show their true self, scars and all, as they navigate life together.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS Seasons 3-5 (Drama, Universal Television/Imagine Television/Film 44, USA)
Season 3 (13x60) begins streaming Friday, August 1, 2025
Season 4 (13x60) begins streaming Friday, August 15, 2025
Season 5 (13x60) begins streaming Friday, August 29
Critically acclaimed and highly praised during its run, this compelling drama from executive producers Brian Grazer and Peter Berg takes place in Dillon, Texas, a community obsessed with the status of its high school football team. The head coach, Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler), constantly feels the pressure of the town's expectations as he leads this troubled and conflicted team throughout the season. While offering unique insight into an outsized, bigger-than-life Texas culture, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS really tells a story universal for all audiences - that there is more to life than victory, and that there is more to being a man than being a winner.
PORTLANDIA (Comedy, Broadway Video Entertainment, USA)
Season 5 begins streaming Friday, August 1
Season 6 begins streaming Friday, August 8
Season 7 begins streaming Friday, August 15
Season 8 begins streaming Friday, August 22
The IFC Original short-based comedy series PORTLANDIA is created, written by and starring Fred Armisen (SNL) and Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney vocalist/guitarist). Each episode's character-based shorts draw viewers into Portlandia, the creators' dreamy and absurd rendering of Portland, Oregon. An assortment of guest stars inhabit Portlandia, including Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks, Sex & The City), Aubrey Plaza (My Old Ass, Parks and Recreation), Selma Blair (Legally Blonde, Hellboy), Heather Graham (The Hangover), Edie McClurg (Ferris Bueller's Day Off), Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick), Jason Sudeikis (SNL, Ted Lasso), and Gus Van Sant (Milk). Singer/songwriters Sarah McLachlan and Aimee Mann also guest star, alongside James Mercer (The Shins), and local Portland musicians Jenny Conlee and Colin Meloy (The Decemberists) and Corin Tucker (Sleater-Kinney).
MOTHERLAND (Comedy, UK)
Season 1 (7x30, Delightful Industries)
Season 2 (6x30, Delightful Industries)
Season 3 (6x30, Twofour)
Begins streaming Friday, August 8
A group of less-than-perfect parents reveal the comic and crazy sides of middle-class motherhood as they navigate the trials and traumas of unromanticized parenting, where chaos and hyper-competition reign supreme as they struggle to keep up and stay the course. Winner of Best Scripted Comedy at
the 2022 BAFTA Awards. Created by Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe, Bad Sisters), Holly Walsh (The Other One, Wallace & Gromit:Vengeance Most Fowl) and Graham Linehan (The IT Crowd, Father Ted).
“This is rich terrain that has been insufficiently explored by a comic mind as fearlessly audacious as Horgan’s. Motherland plants a flag there in its very first scene and commences building a legacy.”
AMANDALAND Season 1 (6x30, Comedy, Merman, UK)
Begins streaming Friday, August 22
*Exclusive Canadian Premiere*
Post-divorce Amanda (Lucy Punch) finds herself downsizing from Chiswick to So-ha (South Harlesden), but with a little rebrand, Amanda strives to make it work as a single, independent mum.
MARY KILLS PEOPLE Seasons 2 and 3 (Drama, Entertainment One/Corus Entertainment/Cameron Pictures Inc., Canada)
Season 2 (6x45) begins streaming Friday, August 15
During MARY KILLS PEOPLE Season 2, viewers will see Mary become more entangled in her illegal work, risking her family and ER career even as she tries to keep her worlds separate and her daughters safe. But secrets can only be hidden for so long when the mysterious Olivia approaches Mary and Des with a deadly request.
Season 3 (6x45) begins streaming Friday, August 29
In the final chapter of MARY KILLS PEOPLE, audiences will find Mary at a turning point. She’s working at Joy’s – an idyllic, countryside hospice where she and her partner Des can safely tend to terminal patients, away from prying eyes. And… she’s five months pregnant.
THE AFFAIR Season 4 (10x60, Drama, Sheleg/Higlewater/Showtime Networks, USA)
Begins streaming Friday, August 22
Long past the secrets that brought them together and tore their lives apart, Noah, Alison, Helen and Cole are on separate journeys with the promise of new relationships and a fresh start. But as the past continues to surface, they question what they’re holding on to as their lives keep crashing back into one another.
DOCUMENTARIES
ABSOLUTELY CANADIAN: THE SECRET LONG TREE SOCIETY (60min, Documentary, Directed by Colin Waugh)
Begins streaming Friday, August 1
A mysterious society embarks on a mission to grow one-thousand, thousand-year-old trees.
ABSOLUTELY CANADIAN: TRANS CANADA (60min, Documentary, Directed by Tys Burger)
Begins streaming Friday, August 8
In a deeply personal journey, filmmaker Tys Burger travels across the country to learn from other transgender people about how they create community, home and spaces to thrive.
ABSOLUTELY CANADIAN: UNDER THE ARBOR (60min, Documentary, Directed by Hayley Moren)
Begins streaming Friday, August 15
A behind-the-scenes journey along Alberta's Powwow trail - a captivating celebration of dance, music, culture and family, with those who live it.
LIFESTYLE & UNSCRIPTED
CHATEAU DIY Season 8 (16x60, Lifestyle, Spark Media, UK)
Begins streaming Friday, August 1
With the latest seasons narrated by Bridgerton’s Adjoa Andoh, Château DIY follows courageous château-owners as they tackle monumental reno projects and transform worn-yet-wonderful castles across France. From first-time buyers to seasoned homeowners with grand expansion plans, every episode focuses on three unique transformation stories and restoration trials, tales, and tribulations. And—from overgrown gardens and sagging floors to turrets in desperate need of repair—this escapist fantasy serves up extreme highs, devastating lows, and jaw-dropping fairytale reveals every time.
BIG ZUU AND AJ TRACEY'S RICH FLAVOURS (3x45, Lifestyle, BBC Studios Entertainment Productions/Big Productions, UK)
Begins streaming Friday, August 8
*Exclusive Canadian Premiere*
BAFTA-winning chef and rapper Big Zuu and his cousin, multi-platinum-selling rapper AJ Tracey, embark on a super-rich food safari of outrageous dishes and luxury lifestyles. The pair's epic global voyage includes visits to South Korea, the Scottish Highlands and New York where they sample the world's most expensive Korean BBQ, haggis and pizzas. In each episode, Zuu cooks a delicious dish inspired by the rich flavours they discover, alongside indulging in some of the pastimes of the wealthy characters they meet along the way. A food series like no other - one that lifts the lid on the most eyewatering luxury and lifestyles that the culinary world has to offer.
FEATURE FILMS
LADY BIRD (94min, Comedy/Drama, written and directed by Greta Gerwig)
Begins streaming Friday, August 22
In LADY BIRD, Greta Gerwig reveals herself to be a bold new cinematic voice with her directorial debut, excavating both the humour and pathos in the turbulent bond between a mother and her teenage daughter. Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) fights against but is exactly like her wildly loving, deeply opinionated and strong-willed mom (Laurie Metcalf), a nurse working tirelessly to keep her family afloat after Lady Bird's father (Tracy Letts) loses his job. Set in Sacramento, California in 2002, amidst a rapidly shifting American economic landscape, LADY BIRD is an affecting look at the relationships that shape us, the beliefs that define us, and the unmatched beauty of a place called home. Nominated for five Academy Awards® including Best Motion Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Best Achievement in Directing.
THE ROYAL HOTEL (91min, Drama, written and directed by Kitty Green)
Begins streaming Friday, August 29
Americans Hanna (Julia Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick) are best friends backpacking in Australia. After they run out of money, Liv, looking for an adventure, convinces Hanna to take a temporary live-in job behind the bar of a pub called ’The Royal Hotel’ in a remote Outback mining town. Bar owner Billy and a host of locals give the girls a riotous introduction to Down Under drinking culture but soon Hanna and Liv find themselves trapped in an unnerving situation that grows rapidly out of their control.
THE BEST OF CBC
The Canadian streaming home of hit CBC original series including THE GREAT CANADIAN BAKING SHOW, HEARTLAND, KIM’S CONVENIENCE, MURDOCH MYSTERIES, SCHITT’S CREEK and WORKIN’ MOMS, plus BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW, BLACKBERRY, BONES OF CROWS, MR. D, PRETTY HARD CASES, THE PORTER, RUN THE BURBS, SON OF A CRITCH, SORT OF, STILL STANDING and TALLBOYZ, and classic CBC hits like BEING ERICA.
COMING IN SEPTEMBER
AFTER SUN
THE GOLD Season 2
SHOWTRIAL Season 2
SLIP
