Viewers react to debut of ‘SNL UK’: “Brilliant” or “utter slop”?

Saturday Night Live UK kicked off last night (March 21), and reactions from viewers and critics are rolling in. Find a full recap below.

The new UK version of the long-running US variety show premiered last night on Sky and NOW TV. It will run for six episodes.

US actor and comedian Tina Fey presented the star-studded debut episode, with Wet Leg as the musical guest. There were also cameos from Graham Norton, Nicola Coughlan and Michael Cera during Fey’s opening monologue, where she received a crash course in British humour.

The episode also served as an introduction to the show’s cast, which includes Black Ops star Hammed Animashaun, Celeste Dring who appeared in This Country with Daisy May and Charlie Cooper, comedian Ania Magliano, who recently featured on Taskmaster, George Fouracres who appeared alongside Cillian Murphy in the Netflix film Steve, Big Boys star Jack Shep, Ayoade Bamgboye, Larry Dean, Annabel Marlow, Al Nash, Emma Sidi and Paddy Young.

Things kicked off with the US tradition of a political cold open, which featured Fouracres as Prime Minister Keir Starmer attempting to break the news to Donald Trump that he doesn’t want to join the war in Iran.

“Oh, golly! What if Donald shouts at me? What do I say?” he says to an adviser played by Animashaun. “Just be yourself, prime minister!” the adviser says. “Yourself is who everyone likes.”

Elsewhere, the show’s Weekend Update segment poked fun at former Prince Andrew, with Magliano and Young roasting the disgraced royal, who was arrested by the U.K. police in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office after the release of the Epstein files.

“Coming up on Weekend Update: pedophilia. But first, war!” Magliano said as the segment kicked off, eliciting laughter from the live audience.

Another crowd-pleasing joke took aim at the Beckhams’ recent family scandal. “Feuding father and son David and Brooklyn Beckham narrowly missed each other whilst at the same Beverly Hills hotel,” Young began. “The feud began when Victoria was, quote, ‘inappropriately’ close with her son at his wedding, and escalated after Brooklyn accidentally yelled out his wife’s name during sex with his mum.”

Wet Leg later appeared as the inaugural musical guests, performing ‘Mangetout’ and ‘Catch These Fists’ from their recent album ‘Moisturizer‘. Check out their performances below.

Reactions have been rolling in since the episode aired – and they’re very mixed. One user on X/Twitter said the show is “already on life support” thanks to “unwitty sketches” making it “disastrously unfunny”.

Similarly, another viewer said the show was “a tough watch”, while someone else added that it was “utter slop”.

On the other hand, one viewer wrote that they were shocked to report the episode was “really quite good” – a sentiment echoed by another X user, who said it was an “above average” episode of its US counterpart, while another said it was “brilliant”.

“20 mins into SNL UK and ITS FANTASTIC!!!!!!!! EVERYONE PRAYING ON ITS DOWNFALL CAN SUCK ITTTT,” another X user wrote. Check out more reactions below.

Saturday Night Live UK is already on life support after one episode:

– Unwitty sketches
– Actors forgetting lines
– Immediate partisan references
– Carried by American guest host

Premiere was disastrously unfunny & should be immediately cancelled.pic.twitter.com/EWbzBGqp4H https://t.co/zGM4xueXvA

— Stephen JKD (@theStephenJKD) March 21, 2026

Unsurprisingly, SNL UK is something of a tough watch pic.twitter.com/jO4EH3yq7a

— Josh Kaplan (@_jkaplan) March 21, 2026

Is anyone watching SNL UK tonight ? We’re four minutes in and this is utter slop

— Friend of the People (@TribuneOfTheRev) March 21, 2026

Incredibly surreal watching SNL UK, just wish it was more accessible to the general public. “I’m David Attenborough and it can’t be long now” fucking bodied me. pic.twitter.com/UFrxsme1Nt

— Thomas ‘TomSka’ Ridgewell (@thetomska) March 21, 2026

I have shocking news. So far, SNL UK is really quite good.

— Gareth Roberts (@OldRoberts953) March 21, 2026

SNL UK was……really good?

— Kuba Swift (@kubaswift) March 21, 2026

very happy to say #SNLUK was an above average episode of SNL US and therefore exactly what I wanted. Still hit and miss but got the UK tone right. Some of the cast need time but Sidi, Shep, and the Weekend Update pairing of Ania Magliano and Paddy Young are already great https://t.co/0FgjiM7uB4 pic.twitter.com/s1fyzpdKyR

— Cuz (@HeIsTheCuz) March 21, 2026

thought snl uk was brilliant. delivered exactly what I was hoping for and I’m really excited to see more

— guy (@guymrdth) March 21, 2026

20 mins into SNL UK and ITS FANTASTIC!!!!!!!! EVERYONE PRAYING ON ITS DOWNFALL CAN SUCK ITTTT

— becky ⊬🐇 (@bigbadbecky0) March 21, 2026

Meanwhile, critically, the show received similar reviews across the board. The Guardian awarded it three stars and noted that it “did work”, adding: “it felt refreshing to see an ambition/piece of madness like retooling a legacy US brand for this septic isle even being attempted. It did not fail.”

The Independent also gave it three stars, writing: “Borrowing a beloved American format might feel a bit stale, but there are notes of new ingredients that could offer something fresh.”

The Times noted that SNL UK wasn’t funny “yet”, while the Financial Times said that it “showed promise”.

Next week’s edition (March 28), will see Northern Irish actor Jamie Dornan (Belfast) take on hosting duties, with Wolf Alice lined up as the musical guests.

Episode three (airing on April 4) is set to see actor Riz Ahmed (Bait, Hamlet) presenting, while Kasabian provide the live music.

Live from London at 10pm every Saturday night, each 75-minute episode will see a different host take to the stage alongside SNL UK’s inaugural cast.

You can view the original article HERE.