7 Breakout Moments From SNL UK's Historic First Episode

A healthy dose of British scepticism has surrounded Saturday Night Live UK since the intent to bring the American comedy institution across the pond was announced. Few efforts to Americanise a British property or Anglicise an American one have really worked (The Office is one of the most notable exceptions), and there were concerns over how much creative control non-Brits would have over the production.

Luckily, the first episode of SNL UK, which aired on Saturday, 21 March, has been mostly well-received by both critics and the general public – you know you’ve crossed into the zeitgeist when you’re deemed TikTok-clippable.

While we wait for the first historic season to unfold over the coming weeks in Graham Norton’s London studio (more on him later), 50 years after the original version first aired live from New York, here are the standout moments from the premiere that may convince you to tune in on Saturday nights.

1. Jack Shep’s Instantly-Iconic Princess Diana  

The first episode of SNL UK wasted no time pulling out some big impressions of big British names: Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer starred in the cold opening, which was, unfortunately, one of the weaker sketches of the night for me, while Sir David Attenborough played host to a ‘Last Supper’ of deceased British icons from history.

While David (played unevenly by George Fouracres) tried to wrangle his constellation of starry dinner guests into settling on a starter to order, to his left, Jack Shep’s Princess Diana stole every frame with his constant doe-eyed fawning. It was an impression worthy of a Snatch Game win on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, the high watermark for high camp. Runner-up kudos should go to Larry Dean’s Freddie Mercury, who communicated entirely through Queen musical snippets like a human soundboard.

2. Surprise Cameos: Graham Norton, Nicola Coughlan, Michael Cera, Regé-Jean Page

SNL relies on a revolving door of weekly celebrity guest hosts. Fittingly, SNL UK has taken the same approach, with Tina Fey, an SNL all-time great, stewarding the premiere to a safe harbour. SNL also frequently includes surprise cameos from other famous faces, even for only a few seconds of screentime, and SNL UK made sure to follow suit a few times over.

Fey’s opening monologue featured ‘crowd interruptions’ from Derry Girls and Bridgerton breakout Nicola Coughlan, Graham Norton, and, delightfully randomly, Michael Cera. Later, Coughlan’s Bridgerton co-star, Regé-Jean Page, popped out of a changing room in a bra-measuring sketch to fulfil his signature heartthrob duties.

3. Tina Fey Quoting ‘What a Sad Little Life, Jane’

If you’re fluent in British meme culture and/or the most quotable moments of the long-running Channel 4 staple, Come Dine With Me, you’ll have been as tickled as I was to hear Tina Fey say an infamous line from one of the reality show’s bitterest losers while staring woefully at herself in a changing room mirror.

The quote, part of what I think should be considered up there next to the most memorable Shakespeare monologues, is delivered with deadpan seriousness by contestant Peter in a 2016 episode in Oxfordshire. In the episode, his fellow diners can barely contain their giggles at the absurdity of his amateur dramatics, and neither has the rest of the country for a decade now.

4. That Very Risque Beckham Family Joke

British humour runs the gamut from sweet sincerity to acerbic pathos, and on an iteration of SNL that allows for swearing, the skewers needed to be sharp for this first episode to deliver its statement of intent.

Following a pre-filmed gag advertising an anti-ageing cream for women that claimed to make you look so young, your male partner would be accused of being “a nonce”, and plenty of jabs about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the other most envelope-pushing joke of the night came in the first ‘Weekend Update’ – another SNL hallmark present since its inception. Based on the ongoing feud between David and Victoria Beckham with their son, Brooklyn and his wife, Nicola, the line, which I can’t repeat here, used Victoria’s alleged “inappropriate” dancing at her son’s wedding to claim the mother and son had a far more intimate relationship than is allowed.

5. Shakespeare Goes Full London in Hamnet Spoof

There’s a particular kind of impressive pleasure in things that you think can’t possibly be mocked being done so, and done so well. Chloe Zhao’s intense tearjerker Hamnet, which recently won Jessie Buckley a Leading Actress Oscar playing Shakespeare’s wife, has its lighter moments, but is otherwise wholly weighty in its subject matter. 

That didn’t stop SNL UK. With Tina Fey in Buckley’s role and George Fouracres as her playwright husband, who is frequently called away to London to produce his work, the gag becomes the contemporary ‘London-ification’ of Shakespeare, who returns home more and more changed by living in the nation’s capital each time – including a “c****y little earring”, a ‘Team Anne Boelyn’ tote bag, a Lime bike, tiny running shorts, a Ketamine addiction, and eventually, a gaggle of drag queens and a Charli XCX lookalike. As a former Londoner, I heartily approve.    

6. Wet Leg Absolutely Crushing It as the First Live Band

Another ‘must’ of the SNL format is a (Don Pardo voice) musical guest! Christening the London stage were weirdo indie heroes Wet Leg, best-known for their breakout song ‘Chaise Longue’, and supporting Harry Styles during the UK and Australian legs of his 2023 world tour.

The female-fronted group performed ‘Mougetout’ and ‘Catch These Fists’ from their 2025 album Moisturiser, with lead singer Rhian Teasdale venturing into the audience for the second number. The band’s spiky, tongue-in-cheek energy added nicely to the rough-and-ready feel of the episode as a whole. 

7. The Surreal ‘What Kind of Irish Is Your Grandad?’ Sketch

The final sketch of the night was led once again by George Fouracres, who, alongside Jack Shep, established himself as early breakout star material. SNL has always been topical in its humour, but it’s usually the characters and sketches that aren’t tethered to a fleeting moment or reference point that get the recurring treatment, becoming fan favourites.

Fouracres’ closing bit relied on the cultural specificity of Irish stereotypes, universalised by a non-narrative surrealness: standing in grannified living room in a dressing gown, Fouracres repeated a chant of ‘What kind of Irish is your Grandad?’, direct-to-camera, followed by various impressions of strong-accented grandads, each more impossible to understand than the last. Nicola Coughlan jumped in for the closing moments, only to be strongly chastised. More of this sort of unhinged chaos, please.