Yesterday, Saturday Night Live was brand new. Just not in the United States.
Fifty years after Saturday Night Live first aired in America, a British version arrived Saturday night on Sky One, live from Television Centre in London, watched by more than 220,000 people in the UK, and already available to stream in the US on Peacock.
The ambition behind the project is hard to overstate. Like it's US counterpart, Saturday Night Live UK is written, rehearsed, and performed entirely within the week of each broadcast, staged before a live studio audience and featuring an opening monologue, topical sketches, live music, and a British take on Weekend Update. Executive producer Lorne Michaels has unmatched experience in this area, and is hoping to make this jump across the pond a success. In a vote of confidence, before a single episode aired, Sky extended it from six to eight episodes.
Tina Fey hosted the premiere, with indie rock band Wet Leg as the musical guest. The cold open depicted Prime Minister Keir Starmer, played by cast member George Fouracres, as a nervous, hand-wringing figure trying to avoid a call from President Donald Trump, a sketch that immediately established the show's intent to bite.
Fey's opening monologue drew celebrity cameos from Bridgerton's Nicola Coughlan, who questioned from the audience why an American was hosting the inaugural episode, and Michael Cera, who probed Fey about the post-watershed freedom to swear. Graham Norton appeared to help manage the crowd. When Coughlan suggested a British icon, Beckham, Judi Dench, or Shrek, should have been the one to open the show, Fey's response drew the night's biggest laugh: "None of you f***ers would do it."
The cast drew from more than 1,200 applicants and includes Animashaun, Ayoade Bamgboye, Larry Dean, Celeste Dring, George Fouracres, Ania Magliano, Annabel Marlow, Al Nash, Jack Shep, Emma Sidi, and Paddy Young. Magliano and Young anchor the UK's Weekend Update segment.
The critical reception landed where many suspected it might: cautiously positive, with room for doubt. The Telegraph awarded four stars, calling the debut 'shockingly competent' and noting that predictions of a transatlantic crash-and-burn 'proved wide of the mark.' The Financial Times also gave four stars, saying the debut 'shows promise' and that British comedians 'deserve' a show like this. Comedy site Chortle gave four stars as well, calling the debut 'impressively strong' and adding, 'whisper it, but I think they might just have nailed it.'
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Variety's Scott Bryan noted that the show wisely took the American template's core elements and handed them to British performers, observing that the sketches skewed darker and more deadpan than the US original.
The Guardian awarded three stars, with critic Lucy Mangan writing that the cast of 11 actors and a 20-strong writing team 'only just got away with it', or perhaps 'managed a bit better than that.' The Independent matched that score, noting 'some hits, some misses,' while observing the show displayed 'a willingness to push the envelope' and that 'borrowing a beloved American format might feel a bit stale, but there are notes of new ingredients that could offer something fresh.'
The Sunday Times was the harshest major voice, declaring simply: 'Britain is funny but this isn't yet.'
Viewer reaction online split along similar lines, with some calling it 'brilliant' and others 'utter slop.'
Jamie Dornan hosts next week with musical guest Wolf Alice, followed by Riz Ahmed with Kasabian on April 4. The bigger question is whether the show can find its footing before the season is done, and whether British audiences will stick around long enough to let it.
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