SNL UK Ratings: Tina Fey Launch Draws 226K Viewers & Positive Reviews
The debut of “Saturday Night Live U.K.” on Sky One drew 226,000 viewers on Thursday evening, exceeding the viewership of Channel 4’s broadcast of “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” which garnered 215,000, according to overnight ratings data.
Hosted by Tina Fey, the British adaptation of the long-running American sketch comedy display premiered at 10 p.m. And secured a 3.2% share of the television audience at that time. The performance significantly surpassed Sky’s own entertainment programming, achieving nearly four times the viewership of “A League of Their Own,” the channel’s previously most popular entertainment offering. It also outperformed the U.S. Version of “Saturday Night Live” on the Sky Comedy channel, which attracted 5,000 viewers last week.
The launch episode featured a cold open satirizing British politics, with cast member George Fouracres portraying a hesitant Prime Minister Keir Starmer attempting to avoid a phone call from U.S. President Donald Trump. Hammed Animashaun played Starmer’s deputy, David Lammy, in the sketch, which involved a series of references to Anglo-American cultural touchstones, including D-Day, Live Aid, and the television show Friends, as Starmer attempted to appease Trump.
Critical reception to the show was cautiously optimistic. Variety’s Scott Bryan noted that the program “largely took the basics of what makes the U.S. Version successful — sketch comedy, rotating guest hosts and the unpredictability of live television — and left the Brits to it.” Bryan observed that the British iteration’s sketches were “darker and more surreal” and the comedy “much more deadpan” than its American counterpart, suggesting that positioning the show as a unique offering of live comedy and music on British television could prove successful.
The Independent’s Nick Hilton awarded the show three out of five stars, praising a “bang-on Princess Di impression” while acknowledging that judging the show based on a single episode was unwise. Hilton commented on the show’s willingness to “push the envelope” and “risk bad taste,” suggesting that borrowing the American format could offer “something fresh.” Lucy Mangan of The Guardian also gave the show three stars, stating that the inaugural episode “did operate” and that it was “refreshing to witness an ambition/piece of madness like retooling a legacy U.S. Brand for this septic isle even being attempted.”
Charlotte Ivers, writing in the Sunday Times, welcomed the show’s edgier humor, noting that it was “refreshing” to see comedians “really push close to the line,” although she added that the jokes did not always land. Sky has commissioned a further two episodes, extending the initial run to eight shows.