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Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan and Riz Ahmed have been named as the first three guest hosts of the UK spin-off of Saturday Night Live.
The first episode of the long-awaited British version of the US late-night comedy show will air live on Sky on 21 March.
SNL’s famously fast turnaround process will be recreated in the UK version, with the show written and rehearsed in the week of broadcast before being performed live to a studio audience in London.
Each episode will feature an opening monologue, topical sketches, live music and a British take on SNL’s satirical news segment, Weekend Update.
The first three music acts to launch the new show will be Isle of Wight indie band Wet Leg, Brit award-winners Wolf Alice and rock legends Kasabian.
The American comic Tina Fey, 55, spent years as a writer and cast member of SNL from 1997 before going on to become the show’s first female head writer and hosting six times.
Lorne Michaels, who created SNL in 1975, will be the UK show’s executive producer, along with a team of 20 writers and a regular cast of 11 comedians.
The cast’s age range is from 26 to 36, and the head producer, James Longman, said he wanted “a new generation on the screen”. The full cast includes Hammed Animashaun, Ayoade Bamgboye, Larry Dean, Celeste Dring, George Fouracres, Ania Magliano, Annabel Marlow, Al Nash, Jack Shep, Emma Sidi and Paddy Young.
Although the cast are far from household names, many come from the usual routes to UK comedy success, including the Cambridge Footlights and being nominated for Edinburgh fringe awards.
Over its 50-year history, SNL has launched many a comedy career in the US, including those of its original cast – John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner – and later Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell.
The Guardian went behind the scenes with the team of performers and writers who spent the last month hashing out premises for skits and workshopping each other’s material.
Cast member and standup comic Bamgboye described it as “finding the alchemy”. Actor and TikToker Shep said it had been like “comedy boarding school”.
The series’ head writer, Johnson, said: “The number of funny, talented writers we have got to work on SNL UK is ludicrous.”
“All of them make me giddy to come to work each day,” he added. “I could not imaginably feel luckier that we get to make this show together.”
The first episode of SNL UK will air on Sky One on 21 March at 10pm. The series will also be available on streaming service Now.
