The cast of Saturday Night Live UK Sky
With just two more weeks left on the inaugural run of Saturday Night Live UK, speculation is now mounting about whether another season could be on the cards.
After premiering in March, the UK edition of SNL got off to a strong start, with strong ratings for an original Sky show and a positive reaction from viewers and critics.
Since then, admittedly, viewing figures have dipped somewhat, but the show’s sketches have continued to receive a positive response online, with two of the latest episode’s offerings – the “cold open” riffing on King Charles and Queen Camilla’s recent trip to Washington D.C. and a Super Mario parody starring George Fouracres Aimee Lou Wood – already among the show’s most-watched ever on YouTube.
Now the end of the season is in sight, lead producer James Longman has spoken to IndieWire about whether another is in the pipeline.
“Definitely not for sure,” he responded, cryptically. “But I stay away from these discussions, I’m just trying to make a funny show.”
Longman also spoke favourably of the show’s reviews, with critics claiming at the time they were pleasantly surprised with the UK cast’s spin on the SNL format.
“It’s the classic British angle, essentially, we thought it was going to be **** and it’s actually alright,” Longman quipped, noting that this is something he considers a compliment.
The 11 performers who make up the full cast of Saturday Night Live UK Charlotte Rutherford/Sky UK
SNL legend Tina Fey fronted the first episode of the UK show, and in the weeks since, it’s been hosted by Jamie Dornan, Riz Ahmed, Jack Whitehall, Nicola Coughlan and Aimee Lou Wood.
Hannah Waddingham will serve as guest presenter this coming week, while Ncuti Gatwa will see the show out in style as the season’s last host.
Going by YouTube views, the show’s topical cold opens have proved most popular, as well as the aforementioned Mario sketch, a musical “Pub Song” performed by the cast with Jamie Dornan, another Jamie effort set during a hostage situation and a makeup advert parody led by Tina Fey.
SNL UK continues on Saturday night at 10pm on Sky and Now.
READ MORE: