Live from London... again! SNL UK has been renewed for another series

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Sky is staking a claim in British sketch show after proving critics wrong with successful debut run
When Saturday Night Live UK was first announced, the news was met with scepticism – but the sketch show has proved the naysayers wrong and will return for an extended second season.

Sky has confirmed the UK version of the long-running American sketch show SNL will receive 12 new episodes mere months after series one concludes later this month.

Lorne Michaels, the producer behind the SNL franchise, celebrated the news, saying that the UK version “keeps getting better every week”.

SNL UK season two will air in the autumn and will run into early 2027.

SNL stalwart Tina Fey kicked off the guest hosting duties, with Jamie Dornan, Riz Ahmed, Jack Whitehall, Nichola Coughlan and Aimee Lou Wood following close behind.

Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham and former Doctor Who lead Ncuti Gatwa will be the last two celebrity presenters for the first season, whose final episode count will be eight.

The show has made stars of its fixed cast list of actors and comedians, including George Fouracres, Jack Shep, Annabel Marlow, Hammed Animashaun, as well as Ania Magliano and Paddy Young, who host the Weekend Update segment.

Emma Sidi, Ayoade Bamgboye, Larry Dean, Celeste Dring and Al Nash complete the line-up.

The show suffered a dip in ratings after a solid start, which attracted a viewership of 226,000 for its first episode with Fey.

The second episode, with actor Dornan, managed to pull in 205,000 viewers, with 130,100 tuning in for Ahmed’s episode the week after.

But the show has been a huge success on social media, creating viral moments thanks to the cast’s impersonations of Princess Diana, Keir Starmer, Melania Trump and Prince Charles.

As of late April, the series’s Instagram and TikTok clips had exceeded 86 million views, making it a certified hit from the modern age of television.

Last month, comedian and actor Nick Mohammed said the show was “the best thing that’s happened to British comedy since” Ricky Gervais’s sitcom The Office premiered in 2001.

He told The Independent : “I honestly believe that.

To be cynical about it, it’s a shame that it’s taken Americans to come in with a format and say, ‘Just do it like that.’ When I was starting out, there were so many production companies and channels wanting to emulate Saturday Night Live , and not having the guts to do it.

But I think they’ve nailed it.

“I watched the first episode, and was literally emotional at the end when they all came out.

If it was maybe 10 years ago, I would have killed for it.”
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