Better Man: Robbie Williams biopic with a chimpanzee star gets its German free-TV premiere on ProSieben

ProSieben broadcast Better Man – Die Robbie Williams Story on Sunday, 2 August 2026, at 20:15, giving the 2024 film its German free-to-air television premiere. The musical biography, directed by Michael Gracey, portrays the British pop star as a CGI chimpanzee created with motion capture technology, with Williams himself providing the English-language voiceover. The film traces Williams's path from joining Take That in 1990, through his departure in 1995 and solo career launch in 1996, to the success of his 1997 debut album Life thru a Lens and its signature single, Angels. Gracey co-wrote the screenplay with Oliver Cole and Simon Gleeson. Despite its unconventional premise, the film flopped at German box offices, and some cinema audiences reportedly left screenings confused. The broadcast matters because television now offers Better Man a second chance at the audience cinemas never delivered. It aired in a brutal primetime slot, competing against Tatort, Frühling and a James Bond film, according to reports — a test of whether the strangest pop biopic of recent years can find viewers on the sofa.

ProSieben brings the Robbie Williams biopic to free TV

On Sunday, 2 August 2026, ProSieben gave German viewers their first chance to see Better Man – Die Robbie Williams Story without a cinema ticket. According to reporting on the broadcast, the film aired at 20:15 as its German free-to-air television premiere, and reports indicate it was also available via streaming on ProSieben alongside the television transmission.

The scheduling marks a notable second act for the film. Better Man, directed by Michael Gracey from a screenplay he co-wrote with Oliver Cole and Simon Gleeson, arrived in cinemas in 2024 and performed poorly at German box offices. The biographical musical traces Williams's childhood and career, according to reports, with the British pop star rendered on screen as a CGI chimpanzee created through motion capture technology — a conceit that reportedly left some cinema audiences confused. In the English-language original, Williams himself provides the voiceover commentary.

For ProSieben, the premiere offered a recognisable title with a built-in talking point for a primetime Sunday slot. For the film, television represented something cinemas in Germany had not delivered: a mass audience. Reports also note that the film is available to stream on Amazon, but the free-TV broadcast put it in front of viewers who would never have sought it out. Süddeutsche Zeitung included Better Man among its recommended films in the weekend television programme, according to the paper's listings — a suggestion that, whatever its box-office record, the film had retained critical goodwill heading into its television debut.

A pop star played by a CGI chimpanzee

Better Man – Die Robbie Williams Story arrived in cinemas in 2024 as one of the stranger entries in the music biopic genre. Directed by Michael Gracey, who co-wrote the screenplay with Oliver Cole and Simon Gleeson, the film traces the life of British singer Robbie Williams — but with a twist that defines everything about it. Williams is not played by an actor. He is portrayed by a CGI chimpanzee, created using motion capture technology.

The conceit runs through the entire picture. Where a conventional biopic would cast a lookalike star, Better Man puts a digitally rendered ape at the centre of every scene, from childhood onwards. In the English-language original version, the voiceover commentary is provided by Williams himself, narrating his own story while his on-screen counterpart swings between fame, excess and self-destruction.

Reports describe the film as a musical, one that follows Williams from his childhood through his career — framing the life story through song rather than straightforward dramatic reconstruction. That combination of elements — pop biography, musical numbers, and a primate protagonist — made the film difficult to categorise and, by some accounts, difficult to watch without preparation. According to reports, some cinema audiences left screenings confused, apparently unprepared for a Robbie Williams film in which Robbie Williams never appears as a man.

The gamble was deliberate. Gracey and his co-writers built the film around the idea that Williams had long described feeling like a performing monkey, an entertainer trotted out for public consumption. The chimpanzee is not a gimmick bolted onto a standard biopic; it is the film's central statement about its subject.

From Take That to Angels: the career behind the film

Robbie Williams is an English singer and songwriter whose career began not as a solo act but as a member of Take That. He joined the pop group in 1990 and spent five years with it before leaving in 1995. His solo career followed a year later, in 1996.

The breakthrough came quickly. His debut solo studio album, Life thru a Lens, was released in 1997 and included Angels, the single that would become his signature song and one of the most recognisable British pop ballads of its era.

The catalogue that followed is substantial. Williams's discography comprises twelve studio albums, one soundtrack album, one live album, ten compilation albums, one extended play, eleven video albums, sixty-seven singles, six promotional singles and fifty-eight music videos. It is a body of work built over three decades, spanning his post-Take That reinvention through to his later years as an established stadium act.

That career arc — boy-band fame, an acrimonious departure, solo stardom — is the raw material of Better Man. The film is a biography of Williams, directed by Michael Gracey from a screenplay Gracey co-wrote with Oliver Cole and Simon Gleeson. Williams himself is closely involved in the telling: in the English-language original version, he provides the voiceover commentary that narrates his own story, even as audiences see that story embodied on screen in an unexpected form.

1. 1990

   Robbie Williams joins Take That

2. 1995

   Williams leaves Take That

3. 1996

   Williams launches his solo career

4. 1997

   Debut solo album Life thru a Lens released, including the single Angels

5. 2024

   Better Man – Die Robbie Williams Story, directed by Michael Gracey, is released in cinemas

6. 2026-08-02

   ProSieben broadcasts the film at 20:15 as its German free-to-air television premiere, also available via streaming

Box-office flop, Oscar nod: the film's strange afterlife

The film's path to German television has been anything but straightforward. Released in cinemas in 2024, Better Man performed poorly at German box offices — though the exact figures have not been made public, so the scale of the shortfall remains unclear. What is documented is that ticket sales fell well short of expectations for a film about one of Britain's biggest pop stars.

Audience reactions added to the oddity. According to reports, some cinema-goers left screenings of the film confused, apparently unsettled or puzzled by the central conceit of a chimpanzee standing in for Williams. Whether the confusion concerned the film's form or its content is not detailed in the reporting.

Yet the film has not been without recognition. Reports suggest Better Man received an Oscar nomination, though the category, the date of the nomination and whether the film ultimately won are not stated in the available information. The nomination, if accurate, sits awkwardly alongside the commercial record: a picture that failed to fill cinemas was nonetheless noticed by the Academy.

The film's afterlife in Germany continues to develop. The Süddeutsche Zeitung reportedly included Better Man among its recommended films in the weekend television programme ahead of the ProSieben broadcast, lending the title a measure of critical respectability that its box-office run never delivered. Reports also indicate the film is available to stream on Amazon, giving it a second route to viewers beyond the cinema. For a production that struggled to find its audience on the big screen, the attention now gathering around its television premiere marks a conspicuous reversal.

A tough Sunday night slot against Tatort and Bond

ProSieben scheduled the film for 20:15 on Sunday, 2 August 2026 — the first Sunday of August and the heart of the German primetime week. The slot is one of the most contested in the country's television calendar, and this particular evening was no exception.

According to German media reports, Better Man went up against some of the heaviest competition free television has to offer: the long-running crime institution Tatort on ARD, the popular drama series Frühling on ZDF, and a James Bond film elsewhere in the schedules. Tatort in particular has dominated Sunday nights in Germany for decades, making 20:15 a notoriously difficult berth for any newcomer.

How the film fared in that contest is not yet known. Ratings for the broadcast had not been published at the time of writing, and whether the chimpanzee biopic could hold its own against the established Sunday-night heavyweights remains an open question.

For viewers who missed the linear broadcast, there were alternatives. Reports indicate the film was also available via ProSieben's streaming offering alongside the television transmission. Beyond that, Better Man is reportedly available to stream on Amazon, though the date it arrived on the platform has not been given.

Can television give Better Man the audience cinemas did not?

What free television can offer Better Man is scale. The film failed to find its audience in German cinemas, but a Sunday-night slot on ProSieben puts it in front of millions who would never have bought a ticket. Free-to-air premieres have a track record of rehabilitating films that flopped theatrically, turning curiosity — in this case, the much-discussed chimpanzee gimmick — into viewing rather than a reason to stay away.

Whether that happened here is not yet clear. No ratings for the 2 August broadcast have been published, and how the film fared in its primetime competition remains unknown. Judgement on whether television succeeded where cinemas failed will have to wait for those numbers.

There is also a second route to viewers. According to reports, the film is available to stream on Amazon, giving it an afterlife beyond a single broadcast. Streaming often rewards films with a strong hook and a divisive reputation, both of which Better Man has. Between the ProSieben premiere — which, reports note, was also available via the broadcaster's streaming offering — and on-demand platforms, the film now has more chances to find the German audience that stayed away from cinemas.

Frequently asked questions