U of T alumna Lindsey Middleton co-creates Cows Come Home, a heartfelt and hysterical TV show debuting this month

U of T alumna Lindsey Middleton is the co-creator of Cows Come Home, a heartfelt and hysterical new TV series premiering June 2025. 

Find a comfy sofa for a hilarious new television series called Cows Come Home, co-created and developed by Lindsey Middleton (BA 2013 UTM), a 2024 Dora Award Winner and Canadian Screen Award Nominee, and Katie Uhlmann, known for her work on NBC/Global's Nurses and the award-winning series My Roommate’s an Escort.

The six-part series, premiering June 11 on Bell Canada's Fibe TV1, follows the misadventures of Tabby Acres (played by Lindsey), a 29-year-old woman who reluctantly returns to her small hometown to mend a broken heart. As part of her fresh start and with support from her best friend, Tabby re-enters the unique world of competitive cow showing – an unlikely source of solace ‒ leading to riotously humorous capers. Watch the trailer on Instagram.

This show has already been compared to the much-loved and wildly successful Canadian series Schitt’s Creek.

Quirky and charming, Cows Come Home stands out for its heartfelt storytelling and deeply personal roots, drawing from Lindsey’s real-life cow-showing experiences. Filming took place in Fort Erie, Ontario, on locations significant to her own upbringing.  

Lindsey graduated from U of T Mississauga Theatre and Drama Studies program in collaboration with Sheridan College. An inspiration to students, this grass-roots series is a fresh, funny and surprisingly moving look at small-town life, identity and the joy of embracing the unexpected ‒ all driven by U of T talent bringing this highly original story to national screens.

Idea hatched via Lindsey’s storytelling hilarity

Lindsey and Katie first imagined the series in 2022 at a party for Lindsey’s brother. “I was regaling Katie with stories about my days doing competitive cow showing,” Lindsey explains, “and she said, ‘This would be a great show.’ 

In fact, Lindsey had been thinking of it back in 2020 after seeing Best in Show.

With Katie now excited and on board, the two went to work. In December 2022, they sent a pitch to Bell. By February 2023, they had their first meeting with Bell. The following December, the project was greenlit, after taking part in the 2023 TIFF Series Accelerator. Cows Come Home went into production in autumn 2024.  

Lindsey and Katie combined forces with their own production companies, both of which focus on female-driven comedies and dramas: Lindsey is CEO of Belleview Creative INC and Katie is CEO of Katie Chats INC.

Community engagement that artfully bridges the urban-rural cultural divide

The community supported this series with tremendous zeal. “We filmed it in my hometown, a community that got behind the production in countless ways. It donated all of our meals. The Girl Guide troupe, which my mom has been part of for 35 years, stepped up alongside many restaurants. Local folks organized on-location barbecues for cast and crew up to 60 people. The support was endless.”

Filming locations were donated as well, including places where Lindsey had ridden horses or shown calves in her youth. “Locals even opened their homes and billeted out-of-town cast or crew, though we tried to employ as many Niagara people as possible. 

“It was a big homecoming for me, bridging my two worlds of actor/filmmaker in Toronto with my roots as a country girl in Fort Erie.” 

Fellow U of T alumnus actor Chai Valladares, known for his work in The Expanse and The Umbrella Academy, loved working with Lindsey in Cows Come Home. “She’s generous on set, building the scene alongside you while wordlessly inviting you to add your own mark by being open to whatever choices you bring. There’s a feeling of playing within a sandbox that’s really neat with her,” he says.

Show shines light on underrepresented aspects of Canadian life

It was very important to Lindsey and Katie to present an authentic rural experience. “We’ve seen many shows that mock small-town living. It was important to both of us that the characters were smart, complex, funny and real.”  

In the same category as Schitt’s Creek and Kim’s Convenience

Lindsey sees some similarities. “I believe Kim’s Convenience has an authentic lens on a real lived experience that was then developed for the screen. Cows Come Home lives in that same world. It’s very niche.”

But Cows Come Home is ultimately about female friendship, set in the world of 4-H calf showing. “4-H is an international youth organization that provides kids with the guidance, resources and opportunities to become contributing members of their community, country and the world.”

Lindsey was a member of 4-H for five years. She showed five different dairy calves at fairs. One of the filming locations was where her 4-H meetings actually took place. “Another full-circle moment for the series,” she says.

Creative experiences and skills at U of T came to the fore

Lindsey gained a great deal of acumen in her undergrad years. “Something I learned at U of T is to work very hard and always be creating. It’s rare that an arts-based career is formed by waiting for someone to call you. Instead, I learned to be the one picking up the phone; organizing people, venues and outlets; and finding the right individuals to collaborate with.”

She advises students wanting to get into this field to realize the long timeline and not compare their careers to anyone else’s. “With consistency, excitement and a good attitude, things will happen.”

Chai also gained vital experience here. “I got my first taste of theatre in Toronto through U of T and Hart House. For me, U of T and Hart House Theatre are synonymous with the necessary early growing pains of an actor: discoveries, heartaches, successes, falling on my face and a whole lot of nonsense that I privately remember with a smile. I’m lucky that U of T and Hart House provided the platform to create formative experiences in my early years as an actor.”

Hart House Theatre: A special place to learn ‒ and fail gracefully

Hart House and U of T have always been Lindsey’s home base. “I am an alum and a performer whose first performance outside of theatre school graduation was on the Hart House Theatre stage. It's a legendary venue where I work today [as marketing assistant], fostering and supporting the younger voices in theatre. 

“It’s a special place. A place to learn and fail gracefully, much of which I owe to the leadership of the Director of Theatre and Performing Arts, Doug Floyd. It’s a place I can depend on and feel incredibly supported as an artist. Continuing to pursue artistic ideas and projects is always met with support and understanding. I feel fortunate to be a graduate of this institution and work here as well. The House has also helped me gain highly applicable skills as a marketing assistant. As actors, we need to learn how to market ourselves.”

‘Impossible dream’ is possible

Lindsey hopes that U of T students see that someone like her, “a country girl, who moved to a big city to study, work hard and undertake many things can actually achieve an ‘impossible dream.’ I hope they can see that if you put your mind to something and surround yourself with the right people ‒ both friends and collaborators ‒ and take things one step at a time with determination and unabashed passion for what you are hoping to create, it may just happen.”

Originally published by Hart House