While the premiere episode of Saturday Night Live UK was widely praised for going off without a hitch, the show’s second outing can’t quite make the same claim after a transmission glitch briefly knocked out video for viewers watching live on Sky One and its sister streaming service, Now.
The brief outage occurred about eight minutes into the show as host Jamie Dornan delivered his monologue, in which he showed off several prized examples from his rock collection.
Just as Dornan explained that he really, truly does collect rocks—and not just any rocks, but ones that look like potatoes—the video froze for viewers watching on Sky One, while those watching on Now were shown a technical difficulties slide.
Within 30 seconds, the issue was resolved, and the show proceeded without further incident.
It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the momentary glitch, or whether anyone at SNL UK’s home studio was even aware anything had gone wrong.
When the show re-aired 90 minutes later on Sky Comedy, the monologue—which featured a cameo from fellow Irish actor Chris O’Dowd—was restored and aired in its entirety.
While the moment marked the most significant technical error of SNL UK’s young run, SNL proper has had its fair share over the years. Just over a year ago, the show was memorably forced into an extended commercial break after a soundboard failed moments before Stevie Nicks was set to perform.
Dornan’s episode of Saturday Night Like UK is set to drop on Peacock Sunday evening.
