In the first few minutes of Saturday Night Live UK’s opening episode, Nicola Coughlan made a very knowing joke: “This is going out in Britain, and British people tend to root for the failure of others.” Ahead of the show’s debut, that’s certainly what it felt like. Two episodes later, it feels safe to say the cynics have been proven wrong.
High Hopes, Low Expectations
For many, this new adaptation of the iconic, long-running US topical sketch show was expected be a total and utter misfire. Just look at the comments under the pre-launch teaser snippets on social media (“As funny as toothache,” reads one), or the fact that Vice published a whole article entitled “15 Things We Fear We’ll See in Episode 1 of Saturday Night Live UK”.
The prediction, it seems, was that the format just wouldn’t translate in Britain. And while many were hoping to be proven wrong, it felt as if some corners of the media (and, let’s be honest, the general public) were perhaps, on some level, even willing it to flop.
After all, Saturday Night Live in the US is a fifty-year-old, well-oiled machine that feels very much in line with its home country’s culture. It’s often said that Britain has a very different sense of humour, and sketch comedy in particular hasn’t been one of its strong suits for many years. So was SNLUK doomed to fail?
Diana, Dornan and David Attenborough
On March 21, the first episode aired, and in actual fact… it was good. The Guardian liked that it had “proper jokes for grown-ups”, Variety praised the way it was “darker and more surreal than its US counterpart”, and The Daily Telegraph dubbed it “shockingly competent”, adding: “Predictions that a transatlantic SNL would crash and burn proved wide of the mark.”
Memes and clips of cast member Jack Shep as Princess Diana went immediately viral, and moments such as a spoof TV ad for a skin cream called Undérage (that makes women look so youthful, their partners are accused of being child abusers) soon followed.
The ratings were strong, too: 226,000 people watched the first episode live on Sky One, with millions of views being racked up for various sketches across online platforms. Chuck in a spot-on David Attenborough impression, a sketch about infuriating pop-up ads and a fantastic gag involving helium, and magic was made.
Episode two, fronted by a game Jamie Dornan, proved that it wasn’t a fluke: live ratings stayed above 200,000, and more breakout moments have been circulating widely. In particular, a cold-open about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has hit two million YouTube views in less than a week, and musician Jools Holland has given his approval to a sketch that totally roasted him (“Love it”, he wrote on Instagram).
We Just Need a Laugh
With six episodes still to go, it already feels as though SNLUK will go down as an overall success. That’s mainly thanks to the extremely talented cast and writing team, who have clearly been allowed to let loose and get as dirty, boundary-pushing and outrageous with their humour as they want. Their material is unsanitised, gleefully silly, and unafraid to go to some darkly funny places.
It’s also a clear sign that we, as a culture, are massively in the mood for a good laugh right now. With the world in a state of geopolitical turmoil, there’s a lot to be said for simply watching a troupe of funny people being very good at their jobs (look, too, at Last One Laughing UK, which has just finished its massively successful second season over on Prime Video).
In a recent interview with Capital FM, Lisa Kudrow remarked on how interactions with Friends fans after 9/11 made her realise how important comedy is in bleak times. “I’d be at a stop sign and someone would look over… and would just say, ‘thank you’, near tears,” she said. “And I realised, ‘OK, that’s because we need a break’. And that’s what comedies do, they give you the break that you need. Otherwise, it’s too much.” Clearly, she’s right.
A New Era for TV Comedy?
So with wars raging, bills spiralling and people’s anxieties feeling more heightened than ever, it’s no wonder that audiences are seeking a bit of escapism. And maybe, after an era in which it’s felt as though comedy-dramas and so-called “sad-coms” have been dominant, Saturday Night Live UK could trigger a real, noticeable resurgence in unapologetic, uncomplicated laughter-inducing television.
Not since The Catherine Tate Show, which concluded on the BBC in 2007, has there been a British sketch series that’s felt like it has properly broken through and made noise. Is now the perfect time for commissioners to green-light more?
Whatever happens, it seems the future at least looks very bright for Saturday Night Live UK, and deservedly so.
Sources:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DWADLvpCJNH
https://www.instagram.com/p/DWEvVBzjdbR/?img_index=1
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/saturday-night-live-uk-sky-one-review
https://deadline.com/2026/03/snl-uk-ratings-episode-two-jamie-dornan-1236768548
https://www.instagram.com/p/DWc1vXmjDfW
https://youtu.be/TcCfYhzJOhU?si=LhLheogozYeWn8oC
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