The third episode of the popular British live comedy show Saturday Night U.K. just didn’t deliver. Hosted by Riz Ahmed, the episode saw a significant drop in ratings, and people are starting to wonder if the show’s got legs.
According to the latest figures, Episode 3 drew 130,950 viewers, translating to just a 1.8% audience share. That marks a 42% drop compared to the premiere episode, which attracted 226,000 viewers. It also declined 36% from Episode 2, which was watched by 205,000 people.
Previously, Episode 1 was hosted by Tina Fey and featured cameos from well-known names like Michael Cera and Graham Norton. Episode 2 was hosted by “Fifty Shades” star Jamie Dornan. Compared to those earlier installments, the third episode just couldn’t pull the same crowd.
Episode 3 opened with a cold open sketch featuring U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was shown asking three of Britain’s biggest names — soccer star Harry Kane, actor Olivia Colman, and cartoon character Peppa Pig — to help lift the nation’s spirits. The sketch featured performances by George Fouracres, Al Nash, Emma Sidi, and Annabel Marlow.
In his opening monologue, Riz Ahmed made self-deprecating jokes about British life and participated in sketches covering topics like “The Traitors,” the Easter Bunny giving birth, and a society of historic authors. At the time of writing, his monologue had received 41,000 views on YouTube within 17 hours of being posted, while the cold open reached 227,000 views during the same period.
In the Saturday 10 p.m. time slot, competing shows outperformed “SNL U.K.” — and it wasn’t even close. “Bill Bailey: Thoughtifier” on Channel 4 and “Top of the Pops 1989” on BBC 2 drew 342,000 and 444,000 viewers, respectively. Meanwhile, ITV’s “The Jonathan Ross Show” pulled in nearly 1 million viewers, and BBC 1’s news broadcast attracted over 3 million. Thing is — all of those are free-to-air channels, while “SNL U.K.” airs on Sky, which requires a subscription.
Still — “SNL U.K.” was the top-performing program on Sky 1 that day. The film “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” which aired before it, ranked second with 71,660 viewers.
Jack Whitehall is set to host Episode 4, with Jorja Smith appearing as the musical guest. Nobody knows yet if the show can recover from its declining ratings — but can it really afford another week like this one?
