Saturday Night Live UK had its inaugural episode over the weekend, kicking off a new era in British sketch comedy. The show hopes to prove its worthy of not only its American counterpart, but also the hefty financial investment riding on its production.
According to an exclusive from Variety, each episode of the British sketch series costs around £2 million (roughly $2.6 million) to produce. While that figure still trails the reported $4 million per episode budget of Saturday Night Live, it’s an eye-popping sum by U.K. standards, and especially so for a topical sketch show.
Variety reports that a chunk of the cost goes into Saturday Night Live UK's studio spending. The show secured the largest studio at London’s Television Centre on a full-time, exclusive basis for the first season (eight episodes). As late-night TV host Graham Norton pointed out during his cameo on Saturday night, the studio is the usual home of The Graham Norton Show. But SNL UK's deal means no sharing space with other productions, negating the need to tear down of sets or dismantle offices.
Of course, there are also the normal costs that go into a show with a large cast and staff. The show has an 11-member cast alongside a writers’ room of 20, plus an experienced producing team that includes James Longman (formerly of The Late Late Show with James Corden) and Saturday Night Live creator. Add in the expense of building new sets each week and outfitting a wide range of costumes, and the £2 million-per-episode figure starts to make sense.
What makes the spending even more notable is how it compares to the economics of late-night television in the United States. In recent years, the format has faced increasing financial pressure, with shows like The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, After Midnight, and The Late Late Show all affected by cancellations due in some part to money.
That’s what makes the investment in SNL UK stand out. At a time when American networks are tightening their belts or trying to find ways to reinvent late-night, this British adaptation is betting big on the enduring appeal of live sketch comedy. The Sky network already increased the series order from six episodes to eight before "Live from London, it's Saturday Night" was ever uttered on air. For late-night TV fans, it's exciting to see a studio open up the checkbook and bet on sketch comedy.