Greer Riddell is a London-based culture journalist and critic writing on film, television, audience behaviour, and the wider media industry. She is a Writer and Social Media Coordinator at Collider and TV Editor at FILMHOUNDS.
Her recent collaborations include Netflix, Warner Bros., DC Studios, Hulu, and Disney+, producing features on titles including Saturday Night Live UK, Severance, Sitcoms, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Stranger Things. Her recent reviews include Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85’, Scrubs Season 10, and The Boroughs. Her work has also included coverage of UK film festivals and features published in Film Stories Magazine.
When Saturday Night Live returns for Season 52 this autumn, it will do so alongside the return of Saturday Night Live UK, which has been renewed for a second season following its successful debut this March. Despite the UK version being broadcast on subscription service Sky TV with limited viewing figures, it has generated significant traction online, especially with viewers in the United States.
With Lorne Michaels closely involved in the UK adaptation and Comcast NBCUniversal’s 2018 acquisition of Sky, both versions of SNL now sit within the same corporate structure and are closely connected behind the scenes. Rather than allowing the two shows to operate in parallel but separately, NBCUniversal should harness the advantages of its shared ownership by treating them as a unified franchise and airing them back-to-back on NBC.
SNL Season 52 is set to air later this year in the traditional 11:30 p.m. EST (4:30 a.m. BST) timeslot on NBC. Meanwhile, SNL UK returns in September, airing at 10:30 p.m. BST (5:30 p.m. ET) on Sky TV — well ahead of the original. NBCUniversal should take advantage of this by scheduling SNL UK in the lead-in slot before the main series on the American network. Doing so would place the British version directly in front of the exact audience NBCUniversal is already targeting across both properties. It would likely increase viewing figures and strengthen the international profile of SNL UK, which could then feed back into domestic ratings through increased hype and the perception of U.S. approval.
Comedy fans are already engaging with SNL UK online and drawing comparisons with the original, so there is interest and familiarity. From a distribution perspective, this approach reduces the steps fans need to take to discover the UK series on their own — NBCUniversal can directly place it in front of SNL’s loyal weekly late-night audience before the flagship show airs. By airing SNL UK beforehand, the conglomerate could capture viewers earlier in the evening and pull attention away from competing channels. Viewers who are already waiting for SNL are likely watching television beforehand anyway, so why not keep them within the NBC ecosystem?
SNL UK has not only become a launchpad for new comedy talent on television, but it also brings an unprecedented opportunity for its performers but it also gives performers including Ania Magliano, Paddy Young, Jack Shep, Emma Sidi, George Fouracres, Ayoade Bamgboye, Al Nash, Hammed Animashaun, Celeste Dring, Larry Dean, and Annabel Marlow an unprecedented opportunity to grow their careers simultaneously in both the UK and American markets.
Unlike the traditional route, where celebrities must “break America” only after achieving success in England, SNL UK brings exposure and career development in both territories at the same time. Many major UK performers have never made the jump into American mainstream recognition — Britain's most successful presenting duo, Ant & Dec (who have won Best Presenter at the National Television Awards 23 years in a row) are a clear example.
UK comedians could develop into international names much earlier in their careers, with a trajectory resembling the global success of former SNL cast members, Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon. Social media and online interest in SNL UK may, on its own, bring some notoriety overseas, but the impact would be significantly amplified if NBCUniversal implemented this new scheduling strategy.
While built on the same format and both involving input from NBCUniversal and Michaels, the sister shows are still largely treated as separate entities in the eyes of viewers. A key reason is that the comedy, style, and references are culturally specific. Not every distinctly British reference, such as Mr. Blobby in Margaret Thatcher's miners' crisis, will land with American audiences, just as some elements of SNL will not translate as effectively in the UK.
However, if NBCUniversal placed SNL UK ahead of SNL in the schedule this autumn, the gap could start to close. Rather than SNL UK being seen as a weaker extension of the main brand or simply a “British version,” it could instead be positioned as an equally valued part of the same ecosystem, introducing new comedic styles and talent to both audiences at once.
There is already precedent for this kind of cross-Atlantic appeal. Shows such as The Traitors and Celebrity Traitors UK, hosted by Claudia Winkleman, have proven highly popular in the U.S. through Peacock, performing alongside the US version hosted by Alan Cumming. NBCUniversal could therefore take advantage of this existing appetite for British formats and humor on Peacock, using SNL UK to expand the brand rather than letting it sit off to the side as a niche import.
The idea of extending SNL's slot is ultimately about creating a dependable evening block of comedy on Saturday nights. It would bring both parts of the franchise together into one continuous viewing experience, and NBC could effectively establish a regular appointment viewing block that extends fans’ existing SNL routine. This kind of scheduling strategy has historically worked. ABC has long been associated with game show programming, with recent celebrity versions of Jeopardy!, Family Feud, and Wheel of Fortune all drawing the same audience. Similarly, BBC Two has “Quizzy Mondays”, where audiences return weekly for a sequence of major game shows—University Challenge, Only Connect, and Mastermind.
Genre-based scheduling blocks can successfully hold audience attention and build habitual viewing, and they become even more powerful when combined with streaming. Not only do networks retain live viewing for advertisers, but they also extend engagement to their subscription platforms with recurring monthly charges. Presently, episodes of Saturday Night Live UK are added to Peacock the day after they air on Sky One. However, aligning SNL UK more directly with the main SNL broadcast could significantly increase interest in the British version and help drive Peacock subscriptions. Viewers who discover the UK series in that combined schedule will be more inclined to explore additional episodes to watch on demand, including Season 1.
The season was noted as “weird — and not always in a good way.”
When SNL and SNL UK both return this autumn, Comcast NBCUniversal has a clear opportunity to increase viewership on both sides of the Atlantic. SNL UK has exceeded expectations in Great Britain, while also achieving significant success on social media with international audiences. So the key question executives should be considering during this period of downtime is how to build on that momentum, both in terms of increasing audience engagement and maximizing SNL's commercial value.
Scheduling SNL UK ahead of SNL for the new seasons would be mutually beneficial for both properties, effectively turning them into extensions of one another rather than separate imports. Audience figures would likely grow, advertising and subscription revenue could increase, and the careers of the cast would benefit from greater exposure. Most importantly, it would result in more comedy for us all to enjoy on Saturday nights.
Saturday Night Live UK Season 2 returns in September 2026.
