Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | TV | March 30, 2026
For reasons that aren’t yet clear, SNL UK doesn’t embed many of its videos. For some reason, I’ve decided to cover it skit-by-skit anyway. I’m an SNL completist. I’ll embed any that are available. Otherwise, the episode in its entirety should be available on Peacock. You can follow along as you watch there. My advice, however, is maybe just skip this one altogether. Not a great second episode of SNL UK. Dornan is OK, but none of the skits — save for maybe the last one — really hit.
Cold Open — The gist of this is that in 1997, Prince Andrew is asked to sabotage his reputation so that it will make Prince Charles look more appealing in 30 years. Fergie has already been in on the plan. Still not loving the UK cold opens. And at least here, I don’t think it’s the British-ness of it. (Score: 4 out of 10)
Jamie Dornan Monologue — Dornan reveals that not only is he sexy, but he actually collects rocks that look like potatoes. It’s a real thing, apparently, and if people really understood that about him, maybe they wouldn’t want to sleep with him? Chris O’Dowd, an actual friend of Dornan, also appears to tell him he’s switched out one of his rocks with an actual potato. Uhhhh, I am not loving this, either. (Score: 5 out of 10)
British-Themed Pub — The premise in this mediocre pre-taped rap is that Brits only go to Spain so that they can go to the British-themed pubs and basically replicate their exact British experience in a different country. Funny idea, but not a good rap. (Score: 5 out of 10)
Hostage Video — Jamie Dornan plays a hostage-taker asking a woman’s … boyfriend for $250,000, but she says that they haven’t put a label on their relationship, and then there’s a lot of slightly amusing back-and-forth on whether he’s a boyfriend or just a friend with benefits. (Score: 5.5 out of 10)
Daylight Savings Time — I’m assuming that the clocks turn back in Britain this weekend because this is a skit about a boogie-woogie time man who steals your soul or something if you don’t turn back your clocks. I almost feel bad about how much this is not doing it for me. Am I just too American? (Score: 4.5 out of 10)
War Movie — An actress playing the mother of a Jamie Dornan character in a war movie can’t seem to keep her hands off of Dornan’s character despite the fact that she’s playing his mother. Because Jamie Dornan is fit. “You wre so naughty in the war.” This is decidedly American because the the U.S. SNL does variations on the sketch all the time. It’s … OK. (Score: 5.5 out of 10)
The two musical acts for SNL UK so far have been Wet Leg and Wolf Alice. Are they just making up bands for the show?
Weekend Update — It’s a particularly long “Update” (about 9 minutes) in only a 60 minute show. They probably should have cut about half the jokes, and it might have been better. Paddy Young is decent, but Ania Magliano — who I loved on Taskmaster — isn’t really nailing this yet (she laughs too often at her jokes, and those jokes are often not very good). It’s a fairly tepid “Update,” though the segment about how women want to have children, just not with men — because men are gross — is OK. Here’s a short segment from the full “Update.” (Score: 5.5 out of 10)
Wrap Factory — It’s a Broadway-style musical number about factory workers in the old times who have to glue wraps together. Was/is that a thing? It’s very spirited! But also not that funny. (Score: 5.5 out of 10)
Beanz Bros — Two bros open up a bean food truck funded by their Granny and her secret recipe, never mind that she infected a whole classroom of kids with Hepatitis. But there is no hepatitis in the beans. Yeesh. (Score: 4 out of 10)
Rugby Friend — Dornan plays a regular who who wants to befriend a professional rugby player, but the rugby player cuts him off before he can say, “I could’ve been pro if not for my knees,” so Dornan panics, cuts off his balls, and straps them to his hips so that he can say that he had a rare condition that kept him from playing. Weird … and maybe the best sketch of the night, not that it’s saying much. (Score: 6 out of 10)
