Fifty-one years after NBC launched Saturday Night Live on American screens, the format finally crossed the Atlantic. The question hovering over Sky’s £££ gamble: could a show built on American comedy sensibilities survive British cynicism?

The answer, after 75 minutes of hits and misses, is a qualified maybe.

Tina Fey — SNL veteran, 30 Rock creator, and the safest pair of hands available — hosted the premiere, acknowledging the elephant in the room within her opening monologue. “Like so many large scale US operations these days, no one really knows” why a British version was happening. It was the kind of self-awareness the show would need more of.

The format stayed faithful: cold open political sketch, celebrity monologue, pre-recorded bits, live ensemble pieces, Weekend Update, musical guest (Wet Leg, whose performances the Guardian called “god-awful”). A Keir Starmer impression opened proceedings — George Fouracres playing a dithering prime minister trying to dodge Donald Trump’s calls — which critics variously described as “predictable” and having “a whiff of hastily written student sketch.”

But there were genuine bright spots. Jack Shep’s Princess Diana impression in a surreal David Attenborough dinner-party sketch drew widespread praise. Weekend Update anchors Ania Magliano and Paddy Young delivered what the Guardian called “proper jokes for grownups” — including a line about “Boris Pistorius/Saddam Walliams” that felt almost daring in Britain’s current comedy climate. A pre-recorded advert for anti-ageing cream called “Undérage by Pedolay” was as wrong as it was funny.

The overnight figures tell two stories: 226,000 linear viewers (a 3.2% share) versus 700,000 YouTube views for Fey’s monologue. SNL’s future, like its American parent, may live in clips rather than live broadcasts.

The eight-part series continues next week with Jamie Dornan hosting. The real test, though, isn’t the premiere — it’s whether the cast and writers can build rhythm and rapport in seven-day production cycles. Ambition got them through night one. Comedy will need to carry them from here.

Sources