Saturday Night Live UK Gets Off To A Flying Start In Ratings And Reviews

The first episode of Saturday Night Live UK went down a storm with both viewers and critics.

Over the weekend, SNL launched its UK counterpart with Tina Fey as the inaugural guest host.

While there may have initially been questions raised about how well the format would translate across the Atlantic, the episode has received a wave of praise – and pulled in some impressive viewing figures.

According to BARB data, SNL UK had a 3.2% share, with just shy of a quarter of a million people watching live on Saturday night.

While at first glance, this figure (226,000 viewers) might seem a little on the low side, it’s important to keep in mind that these are big numbers for a pay-TV channel like Sky.

Impressively, SNL UK also managed to pull in a bigger audience than Channel 4’s offering in the same timeslot, the Mission: Impossible movie Rogue Nation.

Critical reception to the episode has also been pretty positive.

The Guardian gave it three stars, as did The Independent, with the former calling the broadcast promising for the rest of the series and “refreshing” in its ambitiousness, while the latter praised its “willingness to push the envelope” and “notes of new ingredients that could offer something fresh”.

Meanwhile, The Telegraph was even more impressed, calling the show “shockingly competent” in its own four-star review, while Metro claimed that SNL UK was an “astonishing achievement” that “might just mark the beginning of a new era in British comedy”.

A slightly more critical piece in The Times said: “This show’s success could only ever be a good thing. That day might come, and there are small signs in this first outing that it might. I do not want to condemn this whole endeavour outright. But the spark is not there yet.”

This piece also argued that if the show leans more into its British sensibilities, “we could be in business here”. “SNL UK needs work, but I’m not giving up on it yet,” its critic concluded.

However, reviews from US outlets seemed less enthused with the British spin-off.

Deadline called it “painful” and “beyond seriously unfunny”, while Variety, like The Times, pointed out the show was at its best when it “took the basics of what makes the US version successful – sketch comedy, rotating guest hosts and the unpredictability of live television – and left the Brits to it”.

Before episode one had even aired, it was announced that the first season of SNL UK had been extended by an additional two episodes.