The idea of a British version of Saturday Night Live seems as obvious—and inevitable—as a British version of rock n’ roll, which worked out pretty well, you’d have to say.
But what’s arriving now, half a century after the original, isn’t just “SNL in the UK.” It’s an attempt to recreate the conditions that made the 1975 version a breakthrough in the first place: a young, largely unknown cast, a live-wire format, and the sense that anything might happen.
So here comes SNL UK. The show—guest host, repertory cast, sketches, musical guest, house band, “Weekend Update,” and live (from London)—premieres this Saturday night. (6 p.m. New York time, dropping on Peacock the next day.)
The man in charge is James Longman, a veteran British producer best known on this side of the Atlantic as a co-executive producer on The Late Late Show with James Corden, where he won two Emmy Awards.
But now he’s stepping into a role that inevitably invites comparison to Lorne Michaels—which, as Longman is quick to point out, is not really a comparison anyone can live up to.
“I am not the Lorne Michaels of the UK,” he said with a rueful laugh. “I’m just someone holding on.”
The self-deprecation is on brand, but it doesn’t fully reflect the preparation behind the show. Longman has spent months building out the framework—cast, writers’ room, production team—with direct input from Michaels himself.
“Lorne has been amazing,” Longman said. “I’m so lucky to have had special time with him. He has a way of talking about things I feel without my saying this is how I’m feeling.”
Longman has observed the process in New York, while Michaels has spent time on the ground in London, flying in for cast auditions last year and returning again in the run-up to the premiere.
The direct connections to the original will be on full display this weekend, highlighted by the premiere host, Tina Fey, one of the most influential figures in modern Saturday Night Live history. (And no one should be surprised by other surprise SNLers who might drop by.)
Longman had been sworn to secrecy for some time while rumors swirled about Fey being the lead host—“If it is her, I’d be thrilled,” he would say.
Starting with an American Saturday Night Live icon might seem counterintuitive for a British launch, but Longman saw it as a stabilizing move for a brand-new ensemble tackling an already daunting format.
Subsequent hosts lean more local: Jamie Dornan and Riz Ahmed, while the first wave of musical guests—Wet Leg, Wolf Alice, and Kasabian—echo the original show’s early focus on then-emerging rock acts.
“It was much better than I had imagined, because it’s such a big commitment,” Longman said of booking hosts. “We’re flattered to have them because it’s a new show.”
The influence of the American version will be unmistakable at the outset, particularly with Fey involved. But Longman says the goal isn’t imitation—it’s translation.
To that end, he keeps returning to 1975—not as a template, but as a spirit.
“We really would like it to be a young, hungry, exciting cast that people perhaps didn’t know,” he said. “And as a show and a country that’s a little scrappier and rough around the edges—and combine all of that in a way that 1975 was such a surprise to people.”
The cast, he noted, is largely unknown—even within the UK—and drawn from across England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, with a deliberate mix of backgrounds and perspectives.
“It really does have British identity to it,” Longman said of the new show’s sensibilities.
That difference may be most visible in tone. “My take? I think that we are very, very good at being self-deprecating—finding the funny in not being very good at things and celebrating the losers,” he said. “I feel like America may be a bit more like celebrating the winners.”
The show has gotten strong support from its UK network, Sky One, Longman said, which means billboards all over London and on-air promotion across Sky’s suite of TV channels.
Still, Longman said, he doesn’t expect to take the country by storm. “Comedy is in a tricky place here. As it is in the US. It’s been a long time that a channel has done a show like this.”
That may account for the somewhat tentative plan for its rollout. The initial announced run was six episodes, but with less than 48 hours to go before Saturday’s premiere, the show’s episode count was upped to eight.
Runtime is another area where the UK edition will differ from its inspiration. Whereas its US counterpart runs a strict 90 minutes, SNL UK is aiming for 75 due to fewer commercials, with some welcome flexibility from Sky should a given episode run a bit long (or short).
It won’t air especially late by American standards: 10 p.m. in the UK, because that’s when “late” British shows play. “By 12.30 here everyone’s fast asleep,” Longman says.
What the show’s creative team is most eager to embrace is the element that has always made Saturday Night Live feel dangerous: the fact that it’s live.
“I think about Lorne offering the Beatles a check,” he said, recalling Michaels’ famous on-air stunt in 1976, offering $3,000 for a reunion performance—an offer that led John Lennon and Paul McCartney—who were together in New York watching the show as it aired—to almost spontaneously show up.
“I want us to try to be reaching like that,” Longman said.
That may ultimately be the real test—not whether SNL UK can replicate the original, but whether it can recapture the one thing that made it matter in the first place: the sense that, for 75 minutes, anything might happen.
SNL UK premieres Saturday March 21, 2026 at 10 p.m. GMT on Sky One and streaming on NOW. Peacock will stream episodes in the U.S. on Sundays.
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