{"id":571403,"date":"2026-05-07T17:08:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/571403\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T17:08:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:08:21","slug":"snl-uk-to-return-for-season-two-later-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/571403\/","title":{"rendered":"SNL UK to return for season two later this year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iOIawn\">From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it&#8217;s investigating the financials of Elon Musk&#8217;s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, &#8216;The A Word&#8217;, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iOIawn\">At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iOIawn\">The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n<p>Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n<p>When <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/saturday-night-live\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Saturday Night Live<\/a> UK was first announced, the news was met with scepticism, but the sketch show has proved the naysayers wrong and will return for an extended second season.<\/p>\n<p>Sky has confirmed the UK version of the long-running US sketch show, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/snl\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">SNL<\/a>, will return for 12 more episodes mere months after <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/tv\/reviews\/snl-saturday-night-live-uk-review-sky-tina-fey-b2943588.html\">series one<\/a> concludes later this month. Lorne Michaels, the creator and producer behind the SNL franchise, celebrated the news, saying that the UK version \u201ckeeps getting better every week\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>SNL UK season two will screen in the autumn and will run into early 2027. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SNLUK_CAST_02.jpeg\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"The cast of \u2018SNL UK\u2019 will return for 12 new episodes later in 2026\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/>The cast of \u2018SNL UK\u2019 will return for 12 new episodes later in 2026 (Sky UK)<\/p>\n<p>SNL stalwart Tina Fey kicked off as the first guest host, followed by Jamie Dornan, Riz Ahmed, Jack Whitehall, Nichola Coughlan and Aimee Lou Wood.<\/p>\n<p>Ted Lasso star <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/hannah-waddingham\">Hannah Waddingham<\/a> and former <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/doctor-who\">Doctor Who<\/a> lead <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/ncuti-gatwa\">Ncuti Gatwa<\/a> will be the final two celebrity presenters for the first season, an eight-episode run.<\/p>\n<p>The show has made stars of its cast of actors and comedians, who include George Fouracres, Jack Shep, Annabel Marlow, Hammed Animashaun, as well as Ania Magliano and Paddy Young hosting the Weekend Update segment. Emma Sidi, Ayoade Bamgboye, Larry Dean, Celeste Dring and Al Nash complete the line-up.<\/p>\n<p>The show <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/tv\/news\/snl-uk-ratings-viewership-riz-ahmed-b2952819.html\">suffered a dip in ratings<\/a> after a solid start, which attracted 226,000 viewers for its first episode with Fey. The second episode, with actor Dornan, pulled in 205,000 viewers, with 130,100 tuning in for Ahmed\u2019s episode the week after.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-04-09-at-09-59-33.png\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\u2018SNL UK\u2019 star George Fouracres plays Keir Starmer\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/>\u2018SNL UK\u2019 star George Fouracres plays Keir Starmer (YouTube)<\/p>\n<p>The show has been a huge success on social media, however, creating viral moments thanks to the cast\u2019s impersonations of Princess Diana, Keir Starmer, Melania Trump and Prince Charles. As of late April, the series\u2019 Instagram and TikTok clips had exceeded 86 million views, making it a certified hit in the current world of television.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/theatre-dance\/features\/nick-mohammed-interview-traitors-ted-lasso-snl-uk-b2956397.html\" title=\"Nick Mohammed: \u2018SNL UK is the best thing for British comedy since The Office\u2019\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">comedian and actor Nick Mohammed<\/a> said the show was \u201cthe best thing that\u2019s happened to British comedy since\u201d Ricky Gervais\u2019s sitcom The Office premiered in 2001.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/theatre-dance\/features\/nick-mohammed-interview-traitors-ted-lasso-snl-uk-b2956397.html\">He told The Independent<\/a>: \u201cI honestly believe that. To be cynical about it, it\u2019s a shame that it\u2019s taken Americans to come in with a format and say, \u2018Just do it like that\u2019. When I was starting out, there were so many production companies and channels wanting to emulate Saturday Night Live, and not having the guts to do it. But I think they\u2019ve nailed it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI watched the first episode, and was literally emotional at the end when they all came out. If it was maybe 10 years ago, I would have killed for it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-571403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}