‘Best show on TV’ to finally become available in UK

UK viewers have been waiting almost a year for season three release

The latest season of the Emmy-winning generation gap comedy Hacks will finally become available in the UK after almost a year of waiting.

The critically acclaimed series, which follows the fading comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) who is forced to work with outsider television writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder) to salvage her career, released its third season to US audiences in May 2024, but UK viewers have been eagerly waiting for its arrival.

Sky has picked up the broadcast rights for seasons one to three of the series, meaning that UK audiences will finally have access to the season from 7 February.

The third series was well received by critics, with Variety’s Alison Herman writing that the show is “just getting started”.

“The show still resists the impulse to lean purely into aspiration or empowerment, as strong a sign of its longevity as any. Both Deborah and Ava are often unpleasant people. That’s exactly why they’re such a pleasure to watch,” wrote Herman.

Meanwhile, Rolling Stone reviewer Alan Sepinwall wrote that season three shows that Hacks is still “one of the funniest shows on TV”.

It comes after pink-coloured Altadena mansion seen on the comedy series was destroyed in the catastrophic wildfires that raged through southern California. The location was introduced in the second season of the series as Deborah Vance’s side mansion in Los Angeles.

Before Hacks, the location had been featured in the 1921 Max Linder film Seven Years Bad Luck and, more recently, the Apple TV+ drama series Palm Royale.

Jean Smart in ‘Hacks’ (HBO Max)

An eyewitness told Deadline that the 1915 Spanish Colonial Revival mansion had burnt down in the Eaton fire, with only its facade left standing. As a result of the wildfires, filming for the forthcoming season of the series had also been postponed.

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Smart took home the Emmy award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series at the 2024 Emmy Awards, after already picking up two consecutive Emmys for her turn as her character Deborah Vance.

In The Independent’s ranking of the best shows of 2024, critic Nick Hilton put Hacks in seventh place, writing: “Smart, edgy and deeply human, Hacks has a very strong claim to be the best show on television right now (and would be higher on this list if UK viewers could… watch it).”

Hacks seasons one to three will be available via Sky On Demand and NOW from 7 February 2025.