The third episode of 'Saturday Night Live U.K.' saw its steepest ratings decline yet, dropping 42% from the series premiere. Hosted by Riz Ahmed with musical guest Kasabian, the episode attracted 130,950 viewers, equating to a 1.8% audience share.
This marks a significant fall from the debut episode, which drew 226,000 viewers, and a 36% drop from episode two, hosted by Jamie Dornan with 205,000 viewers. The inaugural episode, hosted by Tina Fey, featured cameos from Michael Cera and Graham Norton.
Episode three's cold open included a sketch about Prime Minister Keir Starmer enlisting Harry Kane, Olivia Colman, and Peppa Pig to cheer up the nation. Ahmed's opening monologue, featuring self-deprecating jokes about British attitudes, garnered 41,000 YouTube views within 17 hours, while the cold open drew 227,000 views.
Competing in the 10pm slot on free-to-air channels, 'Bill Bailey: Thoughtifier' on Channel 4 and 'Top of the Pops 1989' on BBC Two each more than doubled SNL U.K.'s viewership, with 342,000 and 444,000 respectively. 'The Jonathan Ross Show' on ITV attracted nearly 1 million, and BBC One news had over 3 million. However, SNL U.K. aired on Sky, a subscription channel, and was the highest-performing content on Sky 1 that day, outperforming 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom' which had 71,660 viewers.
The next episode, airing soon, will be hosted by Jack Whitehall with musical guest Jorja Smith.
