Trailer Park Boys is a Canadian mockumentary television sitcom created by Mike Clattenburg that began airing in 2001 as a continuation of his two short films, including 1995’s “The Cart Boy” and 1998’s “One Last Shot”. The show follows the misadventures of a group of trailer park residents, living in the fictional "Sunnyvale Trailer Park" in Dartmouth, Halifax, Nova Scotia. The series premiered on Showcase on April 22, 2001, and originally ran for seven seasons before concluding with a one-hour special on December 7, 2008. The series spawned four films: The Movie, released on October 6, 2006; Countdown to Liquor Day, released on September 25, 2009; Don't Legalize It, released on April 18, 2014; and Standing on the Shoulders of Kitties: The Bubbles and the Shitrockers Story was released in December 2024.

In 2013, Robb Wells, John Paul Tremblay, and Mike Smith, the actors who respectively portrayed Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles, purchased the rights to the show from the original producers and created their own internet streaming network, SwearNet. Starting in March 2014, SwearNet co-produced new episodes of the show with the American streaming service Netflix, and the eighth season premiered on September 5, 2014. Several specials and mini-series were made in the years that followed. An animated spinoff series premiered on March 31, 2019. In October 2019, filming began on a spinoff series, Trailer Park Boys: Jail, which premiered on SwearNet on January 1, 2021.

A 10-episode thirteenth season will be available via Rollercoaster Entertainment and streaming on TPB+ (formerly SwearNet) in 2026.

In 1998, director Mike Clattenburg wrote and directed One Last Shot, a short film shot in black-and-white. The film followed the exploits of two friends, Robb (Robb Wells) and Gary William or GW (John Paul Tremblay), although it is not based in the same setting as Trailer Park Boys. It was the first time Robb, John Paul and John Dunsworth worked together. In the 1999 feature film Trailer Park Boys, the character Julian states to the camera that he wanted his life to be documented after receiving a telephone psychic's prediction that he would die soon. He hoped that the film would deter others from the life of crime he had chosen.

The feature film was shown at the Atlantic Film Festival in 1999, and it caught the attention of producer Barrie Dunn, who saw the potential for a television series. Clattenburg and Dunn, along with Wells and Tremblay, worked on a proposal for a 13-episode season of the show and traveled to Toronto to pitch the show to The Comedy Network. After being turned down, they suddenly decided to pitch the show to Showcase before returning home to Nova Scotia. Tremblay recalled: "We showed Showcase the pilot and they really liked the characters and the mockumentary feel of it. It was very low budget. It was the right time, right place to pitch it." They found that the network was receptive. A former programmer at Showcase recalled: "It was original, bold, and outrageous. They were swearing, smoking and drinking. It felt new. Within a week we were talking about what a series would look like." The network sent them back with a commitment to a first season, with the provision that a second experienced producer (which ended up being Michael Volpe) be brought on board to assist the team. The first six 30-minute episodes were then written and filmed. Some modifications were made to the characters and storyline for the series, and more humor was added to the series in comparison to the film. The show debuted on Showcase on April 22, 2001, airing at 9:30pm. For season 2, the show began airing at 9:00pm.

The biggest change from film to series was the addition of Mike Smith's "Bubbles" character, who was originally developed for the earlier short film The Cart Boy, a film that Smith, Wells, Tremblay, and Clattenburg worked on together in 1995. Smith's character soon grew from a recurring character to one of the show's primary protagonists (although in the earlier film, "Bubbles" was the name of Smith's character's cat). Trailer Park Boys resided with Showcase for its first seven seasons. Beginning with the eighth season, the series was released through Netflix.

Early seasons were shot in various trailer parks in Nova Scotia, but the crew was not welcome to film again due to complaints from residents. These included Woodbine Home Park, an unnamed collection of trailers in central Dartmouth in Halifax next to the Tufts Cove Generating Station, Timberlea Mini Home Park and Greenridge Mobile Home Park. Seasons 5 to 7 were filmed at the former Cole Harbour Rehab Centre, which closed its doors in 2002, located near Bissett Lake in Cole Harbour. For this location, trailers were placed around an existing 2 floor building which also served as the set of the jail. When the series returned from hiatus beginning with Season 8, it was shot at Bible Hill Estates Trailer Park in Truro, Nova Scotia, with every subsequent episode being filmed at that location. After the 12th season, they ceased filming at the location and removed all sets and props from Bible Hill Estates, which still exists as an operating land lease community.

Ricky's car in the series, the "Shitmobile," was originally owned by Clattenburg. He donated it to the series because his wife no longer wanted to be forced to look at it sitting in the driveway.