British Version of ‘SNL’ Reportedly in the Works

A British version of Saturday Night Live is reportedly in the early stages of development at Sky. Deadline reports the new iteration would be recognized as the most high-profile spin-off to be made from the long-running NBC variety comedy series. Hailed from Lorne Michaels, there are several other iterations in China, Germany, Italy, and South Korea.

SNL reps are supposedly negotiating contract details in London with Sky, which is owned by Comcast. Comcast is the media conglomerate behind NBC. Broadway Video and SNL Studios back the show as its producers. Michaels is credited as the show’s creator and executive producer.  Sky’s Italian office closed a deal with NBCUniversal International Formats to develop a local version of the series in 2018. 

The outlet claims plenty of British comedians are lining up for a chance to star in the show. If picked up for series, the network will likely pick an earlier timeslot considering the American show premieres fairly late. Saturday Night Live premieres on Saturday nights at 11:30 p.m. ET. 

Sky very recently started showing full episodes of NBC’s Saturday Night Live last year on the Sky Comedy Channel. Prior to, the show was only available to watch as short clips on YouTube after having aired briefly on ITV4 in 2006. 

The British series Saturday Live, which was inspired by the Michaels-created show and starred comics Harry Enfield, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Ben Elton, was broadcast on Channel 4 from 1985-88. It then moved on to ITV. 

Michaels has ushered in a few iconic comics through his work on Saturday Night Live including the legendary Norm MacDonald, who died in September of this year after a battle with cancer. Michaels remembered the comedian with a touching few words as he prepared for the current season of SNL. “I think he meant the world to people there, I could tell you from the number of people I’ve heard from, and the people who’ve gone and talked about Norm. When you work with someone for that many years and they make you laugh and you’re aware of who they are as a person and a friend, I think Norm was one of the funniest people I’ve ever known and because he’s a Canadian, I’d put him up there in the top five.”

He added of MacDonald: “When he was at the show, I was always in awe of how long he could take to tell a joke and how long he would pause before he told another joke. He never pandered. He was always going to do it the way he wanted to do it, and if you waited, you were really happy you did. I call it integrity, but integrity probably has been mentioned fifty times tonight, but he had integrity.”