How to watch One Tree Hill online: stream every episode from anywhere

By Daniel Pateman
published

Relive the drama of all nine seasons of One Tree Hill

watch one tree hill online
(Image credit: Warner Brothers)

More angsty and testosterone-fuelled than Dawson’s Creek, the other popular teen drama based in North Carolina - One Tree Hill - charted the lives and loves of Nathan and Lucas: two half-brothers from very different backgrounds, whose divergent worlds collide through a joint passion for shooting hoops. Follow their journey from adolescence to adulthood as we detail how to watch One Tree Hill online from the very beginning.

One Tree Hill cheat sheet

First broadcast in 2003 and created by Mark Schwahn, One Tree Hill occupied the recent, Dawson’s Creek-shaped hole in TV schedules. It totalled 187 episodes over its nine seasons, and when it concluded in 2012, it became the fourth longest-running show in The CW Network’s history.

Lucas and Nathan Scott have little in common except their surname. Lucas – played by Teen Choice Award winner Chad Michael Murray – is the sensitive, brooding one, raised by his mom and uncle after his father, Dan, abandoned them. Meanwhile, Dan’s other child Nathan (Haunting of Hill House actor James Lafferty) is brash, privileged, and self-assured. He’s also the High School basketball team’s star player. So, when the equally talented Lucas shows his promise on the court, Nathan prepares to lose everything he’s taken for granted – including his girlfriend.

One Tree Hill, which ran for nine seasons, avoided irrelevance by jumping forward in time to explore the protagonists’ young adult lives, while including some individually devastating episodes (“With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept,” for example). It may have suffered from Lucas and Peyton’s departure in Season 7, but otherwise the show offered entertainingly outlandish plots, characters you could invest in emotionally, and enough love triangles to flummox Pythagoras.

Rivalry. Romance. Drama. Enjoy it all over again as we explain how to watch One Tree Hill online from anywhere in the world.

How to watch One Tree Hill online from outside your home country

If you find yourself outside your normal country of residence and try to access regional streaming services, the chances are geo-blocking restrictions will prevent that – leaving you unable to watch One Tree Hill’s emotional turmoil online.

Luckily, there’s an easy way to rectify this. Downloading the best VPN will enable you to watch One Tree Hill online no matter where you’re streaming from. This essential piece of software changes your IP address so that you can watch all your favorite shows live or on demand, just as if you were watching from home.

ExpressVPN (opens in new tab)

While there are hundreds of VPNs to choose from, our favorite is ExpressVPN. Not only is it quick, intuitive to use, and simple to install, it's compatible with a plethora of devices – Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Xbox, PlayStation, iOS and Android phones, to name just a few.

Plus, ExpressVPN's flexible 30-day money back guarantee is difficult to refuse. Even better than this? You can purchase a yearly subscription for a 49% discount and 3 months extra FREE (opens in new tab) – a brilliant deal on an invaluable bit of kit.

Once installed, simply select the location of your home country and click connect. You’ll then be able to watch One Tree Hill online, Seasons one through nine, whatever your geographical location.

View Deal (opens in new tab)

 How to watch One Tree Hill online in the US for FREE

Hulu (opens in new tab)

Hulu (opens in new tab) means ‘the holder of precious things’, particularly apt for fans of One Tree Hill as its the only US platform to host the show. Committed viewers might be able to gorge half the series as part of its FREE TRIAL (opens in new tab) (each episode is 40-minutes long, with roughly 20 episodes a season). But if not, then it’s only $5.99 a month for the ad-supported plan, or $11.99 to do away with most adverts.

Completists, though, might want to pay for keeps. If that sounds like you, all 187 episodes are available to digitally download from Google Play (opens in new tab) for $99.99. Each season is also available to purchase from $29.99, although the shorter, final season is only $19.99. It’s the same deal through Apple iTunes (opens in new tab), Vudu (opens in new tab), and Fandango Now (opens in new tab).

How to watch One Tree Hill for free online in the UK

Amazon Prime Video (opens in new tab)

UK devotees of Tree Hill High School and the competitive Scott brothers can turn to Amazon Prime Video (opens in new tab). It’s all here to stream for £7.99 a month, or £79 a year if you buy an annual subscription (which basically equates to two months no fee). Of course, that’s after the introductory 30-day free trial (opens in new tab), with no obligation to subscribe.

Alternatively, you can purchase individual seasons from Amazon Video (opens in new tab) or Apple iTunes (opens in new tab) for £14.99, while the whole series is available for only £89.99 from the latter.

It’s worth remembering also that if you’re away on business or visiting family, a VPN is the easiest way to stream content (opens in new tab) like One Tree Hill whilst abroad. 

How to stream One Tree Hill in Canada

This North Carolina set drama doesn’t have a lot of online love in Canada. The only platform offering One Tree Hill to stream is the French-language service iciTouTV (opens in new tab). It’s more suited to Quebecois residents – and provides one month free (opens in new tab) – rather than English-speaking Canada. So, if you fall into the second category and want to get to know Lucas, Peyton, Hayley, Nathan and co. better, you might want to try buying an episode for around CDN$3 from Google Play (opens in new tab), or risk a season of around 22 episodes for CDN$19.99.

As detailed above in our VPN section, if you find yourself outside your native country and trying to access your usual streaming services, a VPN will allow you to connect to these and view TV shows like One Tree Hill from abroad.

How to watch One Tree Hill online for FREE in Australia

7plus (opens in new tab)

Aussies have the best of it. The on demand and live-streaming app 7plus (opens in new tab) offers Australians free access to Channel 7 content, and it’s not even necessary to register. You’ll just need a compatible device – iOS and Android apps, Amazon Fire Stick, a 4th generation Apple TV, etc – to watch One Tree Hill online.

Daniel Pateman
Daniel Pateman

Daniel Pateman is a freelance writer, producing articles across the cultural spectrum for magazines like Aesthetica, Photomonitor, The Brooklyn Rail and This is Tomorrow. He also provides text-writing services to individual curators and artists worldwide, and has had work published internationally. His favourite film genre is horror (bring on Scream 5!) and he never tires of listening to Absolute 80s on the radio.

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