SNL UK: How the US phenomenon landed in the UK

Sky’s executive director of unscripted Phil Edgar-Jones on the five years it took to bring Saturday Night Live to Britain, how 30 sketches become 7 in a week, and why the cast are told not to learn their lines.

The people behind today’s biggest shows – in conversation with C21’s Mark Rowland.

You know a show is working when people start reposting the clips. The opening sketch on the very first SNL UK was shared by the US president. What makes that impact hard to guarantee is that everything in each show is written, built and rehearsed in the seven days before it goes out live.

Season two has just made a confident return, the opening going after Harry and Meghan and the new UK prime minister, Andy Burnham. And, as in season one, a US star hosting to kick off the run – this time Jeff Goldblum, at the piano, singing. Several risks there. They took all of them.

As a result, Season 2 kicked off to critical praise from an unlikely source – the UK’s conservative Daily Telegraph. Their headline read: “Saturday Night Live UK is fresher and funnier than the stale US original.”

Phil Edgar-Jones, Sky’s executive director of unscripted, spent five years getting the show to air. We talked about how it came about, the discipline that makes SNL unlike anything else on television – and why they still use old-fashioned cue cards.

• A year of auditions, from Edinburgh to Soho Theatre, to build the cast. How the process worked, what they learned from the US team – and the specific mix of talents they were looking for. Not just stand-ups.

• 30 sketches are read round a table on Wednesday. Seven go out live on Saturday. Phil takes us through the “collegiate, supportive, competitive environment” that makes it work.

• A sketch about Hamnet came down to one word. Phil’s job that day was ruling on how many times they could risk saying it on air.

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Coming up on Thursday September 24 – Dancing with the Stars: the inside story. Executive producers Conrad Green and Deena Katz on reaching a new generation and the secrets of the casting process. Plus a bonus conversation with BBC Studios’ Sumi Connock on the power of social media driving the show’s renewed success – and the new shows the BBC is launching internationally.