‘SNL UK’ Cast Teases Weekend Update Is Officially Getting More Bonkers Than Ever

Published Sep 19, 2026, 12:01 PM EDT 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. Sign in to your Collider account Summary In a North American exclusive with Collider, Emma Sidi, Ayoade Bamgboye, and Paddy Young break down how SNL UK characters are created and why making themselves laugh is often the best starting point. The cast opens up about the pressure and unpredictability of live television, from last-minute cold opens to sketches that did not go exactly as planned. Sidi, Bamgboye, and Young also share their dream hosts, favorite British comedies, and the chaos Paddy Young would bring to a Weekend Update Joke Swap. Saturday Night Live UK Season 1 introduced audiences to a host of memorable characters, from larger-than-life impersonations of Queen Camilla to recurring Weekend Update personalities like The Woman Who Can’t Be Ignored, whom we can’t wait to see again. In an exclusive North American interview with Collider, cast members Emma Sidi, Ayoade Bamgboye, and Weekend Update anchor Paddy Young opened up about the creative process behind some of SNL UK’s best sketches, the Season 1 moments that didn’t quite go to plan, and why appearing in the show’s cold open isn’t as scary as you might think. Plus, you’ll learn about one particularly harrowing British meme from the 2010s. Emma Sidi Says the Key to a Memorable ‘SNL UK’ Character Is All in the Hands Image via. Sky UK Saturday Night Live UK Season 1 had some unforgettable characters that will stay with fans for a very long time. From George Fouracres dressed as a Great Big Crab Man in The Traitors' spoof to Jack Shep coiffured as Princess Diana, complete with eyelash fluttering and her recognizable revenge dress. But perhaps the place where we see the characters that connect with audiences the most is on Weekend Update, and Emma Sidi is responsible for the majority of those. "This is my Jedi for characters from scratch," says Bamgboye when asked about the difference between impersonating a real-life person and devising a character when there is no obvious starting point. "I hate to even think I can answer that," Sidi responds. Her turn as a woman trying to sell jewelry on the QVC shopping channel, but she has grown one extremely long finger while another decomposes, might not be as random as first thought. As Bamgboye and Sidi claim, the key to a great character is all in the hands. "There are a lot of handsy comedians," says Young, looking very pleased with himself. As well as locking down the hand movements and mannerisms of a character, Bamgboye and Sidi share that the barometer of whether a character will work is whether you make yourself laugh first. "I think it's making yourself laugh with something rather than starting the other way around." So instead of thinking, "How does someone act in a shop?" it is just about trying things out, pulling “a little face”, and really making yourself smirk and building from there. Sidi also reveals most of her character ideas come to her in the shower — why is this always the case?! Image via Netflix / BBC / Broke & Bones Unlike Saturday Night Live, which has had over 50 years of making American audiences laugh, SNL UK is just embarking on its second season. But the Brits have a huge back catalog of sitcoms, sketch shows and stand-up that should be accessible for more international audiences. When asked to share their favorites that they think more fans of the original Saturday Night Live series should watch, Bamgboye was surprised by the long list of titles she came up with. Recommending first BBC's Motherland, which stars Anna Maxwell Martin, perhaps best known internationally for her time on the BBC crime drama Line of Duty, and Diane Morgan, star of Ricky Gervais' Netflix comedy After Life in 2019 and the ill-informed investigative reporter Philomena Cunk. For Sidi, Diane Morgan is also a must-watch, as she recommends the BBC's most recent success, Ann Droid, written by Morgan and Sarah Kendall and starring Sue Johnston, known for both Downton Abbey and playing Barbara Royle in the 1998 sitcom The Royle Family. "It's so good. And it's on the BBC, so I think it would be one of those smaller shows that wouldn't necessarily immediately jump out." Ann Droid, which features Morgan as an elderly care robot, Linda, has a wacky premise that seems perfect for a Saturday Night Live sketch, but it has that heart that only a sitcom can provide. Weekend Update anchor Young followed Saturday Night Live UK's sketch tradition by recommending the 1998 sketch show Big Train, which starred recognizable names such as Simon Pegg, Mark Heap, and Julia Davis. While Bamgboye linked back to SNL's topicality and recommended the fabulously sweary sitcom that satirizes the mundanity of British government, The Thick of It, written by Armando Iannucci, creator of Veep, and starring Peter Capaldi in a much more satisfying and adult role than Doctor Who. Put them on your list. Ayoade Bamgboye Is Terrified Of Going Live, but Finds ‘SNL UK’s Cold Opens “Electric” The ‘SNL UK’ cast breaks down the pressure of opening the live show. Image via. Sky UK Saturday Night Live UK has a unique production process that begins on Monday with a blank page and somehow gets to Saturday night fully formed with vibrant sets, costumes, and hilarious jokes. This process was detailed exclusively to Collider by SNL UK head writer Jonno Johnson ahead of the Saturday Night Live UK Season 2 premiere. Johnson also recently joined Sidi at the Edinburgh TV Festival for a masterclass on the series. Johnson shared that the cold open, which is the first sketch of the night, has the huge responsibility of hooking audiences in. But it's only written on Thursday evenings to be as topical and timely as possible. This means that the cast members only find out late whether they have a part to play. "The Friday you find out you're in it, you rehearse it, you do it the next day," says Sidi. When asked how it feels to find out so late in the week that you're going to shoulder the responsibility of the opening sketch, Bamgboye said it feels "electric," and she agreed with Sidi that they were both very lucky to not be in that first cold open. "That's too much, and then you get a bit jealous, and you go, 'Oh God, let me do that thing,'" she says. So it seems if you feed off being a performer, what many may deem a terrifying responsibility for the cast also comes with a huge element of FOMO. Alongside the cold opens, Saturday Night Live's format begins with an opening monologue performed by that week's host. Saturday Night Live UK Season 2 kicked off with Jeff Goldblum doing a piano performance and tap dancing to a song that included many British references, such as Ant and Dec always standing next to each other in the same order. Weeks 2 and 3 will see Jamie Demetriou (Stath Lets Flats) and Amelia Dimoldenberg (Chicken Shop Date) take on that responsibility. Yet the Saturday Night Live UK cast have some different ideas about who would make the best host. Bamgboye's pick, the most realistic of the three, is Chris Morris, the comedian and satirist known for his deadpan humor in Brass Eye (1997). His role as a newscaster similar to Weekend Update makes a turn as SNL UK host sound plausible. Sidi goes political, recommending United States Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a dream host, as "she is somebody like that who is both political and awesome." Yet Young continues with his trademark "cheekiness" and recommends Mary Bale, also known as the "cat bin lady," who went viral in August 2010 after being filmed on CCTV footage picking up a cat and dropping it in a wheelie bin. She was later prosecuted and fined, according to the BBC. However, she has retained a certain cult-like status in British online folklore. Worryingly, this would probably make the most headlines out of the three. Things Going Wrong on ‘SNL UK’ Is Inevitable, but Does It Really Matter? The ‘SNL UK’ cast explains why live TV chaos can make the show better. Saturday Night Live UK has been praised for refreshing comedy on British TV, with many critics pointing to the live format as one of its biggest strengths. At the Edinburgh TV Festival, the SNL UK production team and Emma Sidi shared that the possibility of things going wrong — and the imperfections that come with live television — can actually make the show even better to watch. "The jeopardy of it I quite like," Sidi tells Collider. Season 1 saw Fouracres unable to contain his laughter during the surreal Eat British Pork sketch, which was clearly not part of the script but ended up making the performance click. It even topped Collider's ranking of the best sketches from Season 1 of Saturday Night Live UK. Sidi shares that there was also another sketch where things didn't go to plan, although audiences watching at home or in the studio may not have realized it. Posh Gits, a skit playing on the Channel 4 reality series Made in Chelsea, was the culprit. "We're actually all standing in the wrong place," Sidi admits. "I was mortified by it because I wrote that sketch." Despite being one of the only sketches where the entire cast takes part, with clear markers showing where to stand and specific directions beforehand, things still didn't go to plan on the night, with several eyelines blocked. But while there was panic among the cast as it played out, Sidi ultimately believes "the sketch is so stupid that I think it might add to it." "It's honestly the cheekiest we've seen you in a long time," Bamgboye tells Young. It seems the Weekend Update anchor, who has garnered plenty of attention online, cannot quite turn off his on-screen persona. Weekend Update is one of the key elements carried over from the American format, where Colin Jost and Michael Che currently sit behind the desk. In the UK, Young is joined by Ania Magliano. We were intrigued by how he might approach another element from the American series: Joke Swap, where one anchor gets the other to read highly inappropriate jokes without seeing them beforehand. So what would Young write on that cue card for Magliano? He swats away the suggestion, saying, "Enjoy Ania on TV while you can." Both Sidi and Bamgboye promise Collider, "We'll try and rein [him] in" for the live shows. Saturday Night Live UK began Season 2 on September 12 with the first six episodes, and will be followed by additional shows in early 2027. Release Date March 21, 2026 Network Sky One Directors Liz Clare Writers Daran Johnson Cast Al Nash, Ania Magliano, Annabel Marlow, Celeste Dring, Emma Sidi, George Fouracres, Hammed Animashaun, Paddy Young, Tina Fey, Rhian Teasdale, Hester Chambers, Jamie Dornan, Ellie Rowsell, Theo Ellis, Joel Amey, Joff Oddie, Riz Ahmed, Sergio Pizzorno, Chris Edwards, Ian Matthews, Tim Carter, Michael Cera, Graham Norton, Regé-Jean Page, Nicola Coughlan, Chris O'Dowd Creator(s) Lorne Michaels