New To CBC Gem In July 2025

Let’s take a look at what is coming to CBC Gem in July 2025.

CBC Gem is Canada’s streaming service, offering more than 6500 hours of live and on-demand Canadian programming. As well as a curated selection of acclaimed, best-in-class content from around the world. This includes more than 800 documentaries, more than 700 hours of ad-free content for kids and tweens, and a collection of over 200 Canadian feature films. CBC Gem is available free as an app for iOS and Android devices and online at CBCGem.ca. Also 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

CBC ON DESIGN (5×10, CBC Arts)
Begins streaming Friday, July 4

CBC ON DESIGN explores the evolution of an idea and the path that idea takes to becoming an item in your everyday life—but that journey is rarely a straight line. Between the initial concept and finished object lie sketches, prototypes, material experiments, user testing, manufacturing puzzles, and countless hidden steps. Each product tells its own story, whether it’s traditional craftsmanship meeting modern manufacturing. Or an international business born from hybrid work constraints, or a secretive method for creating colourful concrete for a famous actor’s brand. We will get a look behind the scenes and meet designers who are making our country brighter and more beautiful. We rarely pause to consider the designers behind the objects we see around us. Or the countless decisions that shape the things we hold, use, and love, and CBC ON DESIGN invites us to do just that.

ACCLAIMED SERIES

THE AFFAIR (Drama, Sheleg/Higlewater/Showtime Networks, USA)
Season 2 (10×60) begins streaming Wednesday, July 2

With a murder unsolved and a betrayal exposed, everyone’s truth is suspect. Told from Cole and Helen’s points of view as well as Alison and Noah’s, the story cracks wide open to reveal a complex web of intrigue and deceit more dangerous than anyone could have imagined.

Season 3 (10×60) begins streaming Friday, July 11

Season 3 of THE AFFAIR picks up three years later. Noah attempts to restart his life, but the damage wrought by his past decisions has made him a ghost of his former self. Alison has been raising daughter Joanie alongside Cole and Luisa in Montauk, but Alison’s past continues to rear its ugly head as Cole and Luisa attempt to build their own future. For Helen, life appears to continue on, but just below the surface of a successful business and a bustling home lies uncertainty with her boyfriend Vik, instability amongst her children, and an unshakeable feeling of guilt.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (Drama, Universal Television/Imagine Television/Film 44, USA)

Season 1 (22×60) begins streaming Friday, July 4
Season 2 (15×60) begins streaming Friday, July 25

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 1 (6×30) begins streaming Friday, July 4
Season 2 (11×30) begins streaming Friday, July 11
Season 3 (11×30) begins streaming Friday, July 18
Season 4 (10×30) begins streaming Friday, July 25

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).

MARY KILLS PEOPLE Season 1

(6×45, Drama, Entertainment One/Corus Entertainment/Cameron Pictures Inc., Canada)
Begins streaming Friday, July 11
Single mother Mary Harris is an ER doctor by day, but by night she and her partner, a former plastic surgeon, moonlight as underground angels of death who help terminally ill patients slip away on their own terms.

WELLINGTON PARANORMAL Season 4 (6×30, Comedy, Piki Films, New Zealand)

Begins streaming Friday, July 18
From Emmy Award-nominated Jemaine Clement (What We Do In The Shadows, Flight of the Conchords) and Oscar-winning Taika Waititi (Thor: Love and Thunder, Jojo Rabbit).
Hapless Officers Minogue and O’Leary are assigned by erratic Sergeant Maaka to the new Paranormal Unit of Wellington’s police force, tasked with tackling a wacky wave of delinquents, from werewolves and ghouls to monsters, zombies and aliens.
Series four cranks up the craziness with an uproarious riff on classic horror The Shining, while Satan himself makes an appearance at a dubstep club, featuring favourites of Clement and Waititi’s outlandish characters including Rhys Darby’s hilarious ‘Swearwolf’.

DOCUMENTARIES

THE LAST FRENCH CANADIAN

(51min, Documentary, directed by Jill Lafaive and Simon Madore)
Begins streaming Wednesday, July 2
*English Canadian Premiere*
THE LAST FRENCH CANADIAN follows host Pascal Justin Boyer as he endeavours to figure out just who he is within Canada’s diverse mosaic. Born to two French-speaking parents in Quebec, who then moved the family to Ontario when Justin was in school, our host shares how he could never put a finger on his identity. He self-identifies as French Canadian when the documentary begins, but wonders if that leaves him a minority within a minority.

When you speak French in Canada, how do you identify yourself? What do we know about the reality of other francos? Were we stronger when we stood together and were all French Canadians? Pascal Boyer, Quebecer by birth, Franco-Ontarian at heart, starts from his own quest for identity tinged with humour, questioning and difficult discussions to try to answer these questions.

THE NATURE OF THINGS 101

(Season 2, 10×10, Factual, Zipline Productions)
Begins streaming Thursday, July 3
The Nature of Things 101 is an exploratory science and nature series of original short episodes, hosted by the co-hosts of THE NATURE OF THINGS, Anthony Morgan and Sarika Cullis-Suzuki.  Each episode poses a question that tickles the brain, like: “Can anyone become a human polygraph?” or “Could a human beat a chimp in an arm-wrestle?” Throughout each episode, Anthony and Sarika engage in scientific demonstrations and expert interviews to explore the answer. Episodes:

• Deep-sea anglerfish: survival of the weirdest
• Can a human arm-wrestle a chimp and win?
• How to catch a liar: deception expert explains
• Not all crabs are crabs
• How to read clouds, with a professional storm chaser
• Your brain is lying to you
• You don’t know sh*t about eggs
• How to cry on command
• Can you guess an athlete’s sport by looking at them?
• Science is magic!

PARENTHOOD (5×60, Natural History, Silverback Films, UK)

Begins streaming Friday, July 4
*Exclusive Canadian Premiere*
The challenges of raising young are common to all life on Earth. From heart-warming dedication and incredible ingenuity to remarkable patience, parenting strategies across the natural world are awe-inspiring – and surprisingly many are similar to our own experience.

Filmed over three years on six continents and 23 countries, the series tells the stories of astonishing animal behaviours shaped by the world the animals inhabit. Each habitat has its own unique challenges, but as the world changes rapidly around them, some parents are having to adapt to a world shaped by humans. The stakes couldn’t be higher – success for all parents ensures the future of life on our planet.

Packed with never-seen-before behaviours filmed in 6K ultra-high definition, music scored by Tom Howe (Ted Lasso, Mulan) and narrated by Sir David Attenborough, PARENTHOOD is the definitive wildlife series on life’s greatest challenge.

ABSOLUTELY CANADIAN: DORCHESTER SQUARE: IN THE MIDST OF THE FRAY (60min, Documentary)
Begins streaming Saturday, July 5
Architects unearth layers of history under one of Canada’s oldest cities while renovating a small downtown plot in the heart of Montreal, where Quebec’s modern social debates play out to this day.

ABSOLUTELY CANADIAN: OTTAWA REEL SHORTS (30min, Documentary)
Begins streaming Saturday, July 5
Short films produced by students and emerging filmmakers from the Ottawa area. Films include THE LEGEND OF ISMAEL LBG by Conor DeVries, ENCOUNTERS: THE STORY OF BUCK HILL ROAD by Salah Tebessi and FARMING NOW by Naomi Runstedtler.

ABSOLUTELY CANADIAN: TORONTO REEL SHORTS (30min, Documentary)
Begins streaming Saturday, July 5

Short films by emerging directors and student filmmakers from the Toronto-GTA region. Films include SHADOW BOXING by Arwen Mercado, WEAVING JOURNEYS: SHIVANI by Danelene O’Flynn and RED STRING by E.J. and Jainna Fernandez.

ABSOLUTELY CANADIAN: WINDSOR REEL SHORTS (30min, Documentary)

Begins streaming Saturday, July 5

Short films produced by student filmmakers and independent directors with stories relevant to the Windsor-Essex region. Film titles include FROM NAPOLI WITH LOVE by Luca Cunial, LEGACY by Ashley Jun and TULIPS by Larissa Cioci.

LIFESTYLE & UNSCRIPTED

JUNIOR BAKING SHOW Season 10 (15×60, Unscripted, Love Productions, UK)
Begins streaming Tuesday, July 1
*Exclusive Canadian Premiere*

The best young cooks in Britain, between the ages of nine and 12, take on the esteemed baking competition. Putting their skills to the test in order to crown the best young baker in Britain.

GRAND DESIGNS NEW ZEALAND Season 9

(8×60, Unscripted, Fremantle Australia/Imagination TV, New Zealand)
Begins streaming Wednesday, July 30
*Exclusive Canadian Premiere*

GRAND DESIGNS NEW ZEALAND returns as host Tom Webster follows another group of aspirational New Zealanders. We follow along on their daring, determined and sometimes perilous journeys to build the residential homes of their dreams. For these brave souls, it’s a long-cherished opportunity to turn an ambitious vision into reality and – as always with GRAND DESIGNS NEW ZEALAND – the breadth of creativity, complexity and audacity on display provokes equal parts admiration and astonishment.

FEATURE FILMS

SOMETHING YOU SAID LAST NIGHT

(96min, Drama, written and directed by Luis De Filippis)
*CBC Films title*

Begins streaming Saturday, July 5 (Also airing on CBC TV, check local listings for times).
Ren, an aspiring writer and mid-twenty-something, accompanies her parents, Mona and Guido, and her younger sister, Siena, on a beach resort holiday in cottage country. As Ren navigates the resort, she struggles to cope with her parents’ loving yet overbearing nature. All while trying to balance the yearning for independence with the comfort of being taken care of. The realities of being a stunted millennial and a trans woman coalesce in Ren not wanting to be perceived as a burden. Yet looming in the back of Ren’s mind is the secret of her recent dismissal from work. And that once the holiday is over, she will need to rely even more on her family’s support.

SOUND OF METAL (120min, Drama, written and directed by Darius Marder)

Begins streaming Friday, July 25

Ruben (Riz Ahmed, who was nominated for an Academy Award® for this role) and Lou (Olivia Cooke) live together, two nomads traveling gig to gig on an endless American tour. Their music is loud, frenzied and passionate, until one day Ruben is overwhelmed by a severe ringing in his ears, which quickly gives way to deafness. Ruben is suddenly overcome by anxiety, depression, and soon enough his past addictions begin to surface. Ruben checks himself into a home for deaf addicts run by an eccentric deaf veteran, Joe. In this world of silence and under Joe’s tough, observant care, Ruben must confront himself more honestly than ever before. But the love and sound of his old life echoes in Ruben’s mind, calling for him to return…

SWEETLAND (110min, Drama, directed by Christian Sparkes)

*CBC Films title*
Begins streaming Saturday, July 26 (Also airing on CBC TV, check local listings for times)

The scarcely populated town of Sweetland, Newfoundland and Labrador, is in slow decline when the mainland government offers each islander a generous resettlement package. The sole stipulation is that everyone must leave. But enigmatic Moses Sweetland (Mark Lewis Jones, Game of Thrones, The Crown) refuses. Motivated by a sense of history, haunted by mistakes of his youth and concerned that his autistic nephew Jesse will wilt on the mainland, Moses holds his ground despite violent opposition from other islanders.
As he manages a diminishing food supply and battles the ravages of the weather, the border between the natural world and the supernatural world blur and he finds himself moved to acts of increasing desperation, only to be stymied again and again by the ruins of memory and the fierce will of nature.

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 AUGUST

AMANDALAND Season 1
COLIN FROM ACCOUNTS Season 2
LADYBIRD
MOTHERLAND Season 1, 2 and 3
THE ROYAL HOTEL

SOURCE: cbc.ca