UK SNL wins over fans and lands second series renewal

Saturday Night Live UK started as a risky transatlantic import, but it ended its first run with a stronger claim: it had become recognisably British enough to earn its own audience. What began on Sky One and NOW on 21 March as a six-episode experiment was expanded to eight episodes before launch, then sealed with a second-series renewal for 12 more shows.

The clearest sign that the format had found its footing came from the numbers. Tina Fey’s opening episode, with Wet Leg as musical guest, drew 226,000 viewers in the 10pm slot and a 3.2% audience share, enough to beat Channel 4 in the same hour. Seven-day viewing later lifted that debut to 528,000. Across its official accounts on YouTube, Instagram Reels, X/Twitter and TikTok, the show passed 86 million views, turning sketches into short-form social clips that travelled well beyond the live broadcast.

That reach mattered because the biggest question hanging over the project was never whether Saturday Night Live could work in Britain, but whether it could work as Britain. The answer, at least from the strongest reviews, was yes when the show trusted its own voice. Critics were mixed overall, but the reaction skewed positive when the production leaned into British material and let a new cast build its own chemistry instead of copying the US version too closely. That gave the series a different rhythm, one shaped less by imitation than by local timing, local references and performers who understood the national register.

The hosting line-up helped establish that identity. Jamie Dornan, Riz Ahmed, Jack Whitehall, Nicola Coughlan, Aimee Lou Wood and Hannah Waddingham all fronted episodes, with Ncuti Gatwa taking the finale on 16 May. Musical guests included Wet Leg, Wolf Alice, Kasabian, Jorja Smith, Myles Smith and Holly Humberstone, a booking list that rooted the series firmly in current British pop culture while still leaving room for American star power through Fey’s premiere.

Sky and Universal Television Alternative Studio moved quickly after that response. On 7 May, Sky confirmed a 12-episode second series due to air between autumn 2026 and early 2027, saying the show had become its most talked-about programme of the year. For a format many expected to stumble, the first run delivered a more persuasive verdict: SNL UK did not win by mimicking New York. It won by sounding like London.