Saturday Night Live UK: bringing chaos across the Atlantic

On the 21st March 2026, the first episode of Saturday Night Live UK premiered to a skeptical, famously critical British audience. Eight weeks later, the show has been renewed for a second series, has attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers, and has had many memorable moments. In the eyes of many, it has been a success.

As someone who grew up watching sketch shows such as Horrible Histories and The Catherine Tate Show, the announcement of SNL crossing the Atlantic was extremely exciting for me. We Brits have such a unique, collective sense of humour, and I was looking forward to seeing how that translated onto screen, especially in this political climate. Don’t get me wrong, I was nervous, there was always the possibility it might not land with a British audience, or that the show itself would not travel in the way it was intended. But, I was pleasantly surprised.

British TV has been oversaturated by the same, often white, male faces hosting every show

I don’t think I have enough words to describe how much I love this cast. Not recognising many names or faces when they were first announced genuinely made me so happy. For far too long, British TV has been oversaturated by the same, often white, male faces hosting every show (naming no names), so for me, this was very refreshing.

While all cast members had moments of shine, from episode one, Jack Shep and George Fouracres in particular have consistently stood out for me. In episode one, Shep’s Princess Diana impression and the first installment of ‘45 Seconds of Fouracres’ (which I sing in my head all the time) made me laugh out loud, and they continued to deliver some of the show’s funniest moments week after week.

One thing I will say is I wish we saw more of Ayoade Bamgboye. Her appearances on Weekend Update as the ‘Fertility Expert’, providing an interesting take on why birth rates are plummeting, and as the ‘Money Saving Expert’, giving misguided financial advice (before being interrupted by Martin Lewis himself) was so funny. I hope that in the next series we see her talents more.

Speaking of Weekend Update, Paddy Young and Ania Magliano have been excellent hosts. Each week they provided hilarious commentary on politics and popular culture, and in particular, Young’s thorough analysis of K-Pop group BTS, only to then act as though he had no idea who they were, was brilliant. I would love to see them in more sketches however, as both their stand-up specials are extremely entertaining, and I’m sure they would shine if they were given the opportunity.

In this international political climate, there is an endless amount to make fun of

Something I was worried about when the show was announced was the possibility of too many political sketches. In this international political climate, there is an endless amount to make fun of. However, limiting the political satire to the opening sketch and Weekend Update works well, as it is allowed the sillier sketches to become the heart of SNL UK.

The absurdity is what made the show so enjoyable. The pork advert, the ‘Great Big Crabman’ parody of The Traitors (which cleverly highlighted the racial bias in the show), the Mario and Princess Peach sketch, and the Hamnet spoof were stupid yet brilliant. I found myself laughing out loud throughout every single episode, and I laughed even harder when I could see the cast trying not to break character, or attempting to hide the fact that they already had. More than anything, it was clear that the cast were having the best time, and I look forward to seeing what stupidity they have in store for us in series two.

The cast have been so lucky to be accompanied by such incredible hosts, who embraced the absurdity of the show and seamlessly fit into the chaotic sketches, each elevating the material in their own way. I was truly surprised by Jamie Dornan’s hosting, as he is usually viewed as a serious actor. So, to see him fully commit to the ridiculousness of the sketches and throw himself into the comedy was unexpectedly brilliant.

their episodes felt especially strong, confident, and genuinely hilarious

My personal favourite hosts were Sex Education co-stars, Aimee Lou-Wood and Ncuti Gatwa. Maybe this is because they hosted later on in the series, so the cast and writers had settled into the format further, but their episodes felt especially strong, confident, and genuinely hilarious. Lou-Wood’s episode was especially meaningful to me as she had previously been mocked on the American version for her teeth, so to see her take centre stage and be effortlessly funny felt strangely satisfying.

Finally, the cherry on top of Saturday Night Live UK has been its musical guests. Similar to the cast, I hadn’t heard of many of the artists, or was not aware of any of their work beforehand, but that made each episode feel more engaging and fresh in another way. Since watching, I have added songs from Wet Leg and Kasabian into my rotation, which is something I genuinely didn’t expect to get out of the show, yet fits with the pattern of the show constantly surprising me.

In my eyes, Saturday Night Live UK has been a success. Having British icons host, fresh faces in the cast and many British artists performing has made the show feel exciting, unpredictable, and uniquely British. For years, we simply haven’t had a show like this on TV, but the perfect mix of live chaos, absurd humour, political satire and fresh talent is filling the void that has been left empty for so long.

In the words of Jack Whitehall, “finally, we’ve taken one of their shows”, and, dare I say, we’ve done it better.