HBO Latin America announced that The Big C, starring Laura Linney, Oliver Platt and Gabourey Sidibe, will premiere in the Caribbean tonight at 10:00.

Unconventional and provocative, the new hit comedy follows buttonedup Minneapolis schoolteacher Cathy Jamison (three-time Oscar® nominee Linney) as she decides it’s time to start living after receiving a shocking and terminal diagnosis.

Facing Stage Four melanoma is Cathy’s wake-up call. No longer complacent with humdrum suburbia, she is moved to find hope, humour and the light side of a dark situation. Freed from the confines of social niceties, Cathy stops holding back and starts shaking things up: giving herself complete and irrevocable permission to live everyday as if it were her last, Cathy confronts everything that is wrong in her life and with her family.

Telling no one — including her immature husband Paul (Platt), obnoxious teenage son Adam (Gabriel Basso), and by-choice-homeless brother Sean (John Benjamin Hickey) — of her illness, Cathy confounds relatives and students alike by installing a swimming pool in her backyard, somersaulting in school hallways, and eating dessert as both an appetiser and main course. Having been dealt the card of impending death, Cathy is totally reborn.

First on newly-liberated Cathy’s agenda is to tell Paul she’s through being the adult in their marriage and doesn’t have time for his childish ways. Then, after their son Adam returns home from camp, Cathy lays down the law and refuses to tolerate his self-centred behaviour. Lastly, Cathy takes a stand against her disrespectful teenage students, finding clever ways to challenge their smartaleck attitudes.

In each half-hour segment of this 13-episode season, viewers will get a wide-eyed glimpse of what it really means to take life by the reins, and will likely find themselves inspired to do the same. Rather than spotlight cancer, the series celebrates the playful side of humanity and its ability to bring laughter to even the most difficult of circumstances.

Nominated for a Golden Globe® in the categories of Best Comedy Series and Best Performance by an Actress in a Comedy Series for Linney, The Big C boasts a star-studded cast, and also features guest appearances by acclaimed actors such as Cynthia Nixon, Idris Elba and Liam Neeson.

The show was created by Darlene Hunt, a former member of famed comedy troupe The Groundlings, and directed by renowned Dreamgirls director, Bill Condon. Participating in executive production along with Hunt and Linney are 90210’s Vivian Cannon, and prolific producer and Emmy®- nominee Neal Moritz.