Ncuti Gatwa popped up in a teaser sketch ahead of his turn hosting the final episode of Saturday Night Live UK season 1, with the clip leaning hard into the Doctor Who connection that has followed him since he left the sci-fi series last year. In the sketch, Hannah Waddingham regenerates into Gatwa, Emma Sidi and Larry Dean appear as cast members, and the whole joke is underlined by the line, “For copyright reasons, it's very, slightly different...”
Sidi tells Gatwa that the show regenerates the hosts every week, prompting him to ask, “Like Doctor Who?” She then says there are actually only two cast members on SNL UK, and both regenerate as well, before Dean says he can regenerate too and turns into something very different. It is a neat bit of timing for Gatwa, whose own Doctor Who exit last year ended with his Doctor regenerating into Billie Piper in a surprise scene, and it lands just as the mainline show is due back this Christmas.
The teaser also fits a pattern for Saturday Night Live UK, which has already dipped into Doctor Who territory before in a sketch featuring Aimee Lou Wood as the Time Lord’s companion. Gatwa now follows a run of previous hosts that includes Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan, Riz Ahmed, Jack Whitehall, Nicola Coughlan, Aimee Lou Wood and Waddingham, as the British offshoot heads into a season 1 finale that already has a second season waiting in the wings.
The series has recently been renewed for a second season of 12 episodes, set to begin airing on Sky One from September 2026. Lorne Michaels said he was “incredibly proud of our team and the show,” adding that it “keeps getting better every week.” He said he was “grateful to Dana Strong and Sky for believing in and supporting SNL UK,” and “excited for the season ahead.”
That renewal means the show is already moving ahead before its first season has even finished, a sign that the format has found traction quickly enough to earn another run. For Gatwa, the cameo is a brief but pointed return to the role that made him instantly recognizable to a wider audience, even as the franchise he fronted prepares for its next episode this Christmas. Saturday Night Live UK continues on Saturday 16 May at 10pm on Sky One and NOW.
