You Should Watch “Black Mirror” This Weekend

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Welcome to Worth Watching.

Ahem… “LIVE FROM LONDON… IT’S SATURDAY NIGGGGHHHHHHHTTT!!!”

Earlier this week, it was announced that Saturday Night Live is to have its own British version called SNL UK. It will be made in London with an all-British cast, with Lorne Michaels serving as exec producer. It will air on Sky and NOW in 2026.

At a time when far fewer comedy shows are in production and the television industry itself is in crisis, it shouldn’t be criticised that they are giving this a go. Yet, despite the show’s half century of success Stateside, SNL has quite a hill to climb for it to be successful over here.

Firstly, it’ll be on Sky, so it will have fewer natural viewers than if it were on ITV or Channel 4. SNL is known for attracting established performers and up-and-coming talent, but retaining talent will be so much harder when usually a successful role in the UK will lead to more lucrative offers elsewhere.

And then there’s the fact that the show will have to adapt to British comedy. I am not sure whether British audiences have an appetite for how it works in the US: 90-minute episodes with sketches often running up to five to ten minutes a time.

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TV HEADLINES

The 1984 apocalyptic BBC drama Threads is being remade by Sheffield-based Warp Films. Yes, that’s right, there is going to be an entire series based on your nightmare.

There is so far no broadcaster assigned for it; essentially, it has been announced that a production company now has the rights. Warp Films, though, are behind Adolescence and BBC One’s Reunion (featured below), so it feels like it is in good hands.

Although one question: how do you spin one of the darkest dramas of all time, where nearly all the characters die or are incinerated, into a whole series?

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ON TELEVISION NEXT WEEK

• Doctor Who is back this Saturday with Ncuti Gatwa. I reviewed the first episode of the new series for Variety

• Channel 4 has a new series called Barristers: Fighting For Justice, which feels like the legal version of 24 Hours in Police Custody.

• The Piano also returns to Channel 4 on Sunday this week. There’s currently a 24 hour Piano-thon that you can watch YouTube.

• The Last of Us returns with new episodes next Monday. The episode will air from 2am UK time Sunday night, if that’s your thing, then it is on Sky and NOW.

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Reunion (BBC One, all four episodes) – This show is a revelation. Fronted by Matthew Gurney (centre), the four parter is a crime thriller about a man released from prison for murder, but nobody around him can work out why he hasn’t seen his parole officer and why he has unpredictable behaviour. This includes you watching at home.

I really liked the way that it explores issues surrounding the deaf community and criminal justice without such themes getting too in the way of the plot, or feeling as if you are being lectured to. At the heart of it, there’s just a great mystery, helped with great performances by Gurney, along with Lara Peake, Anne-Marie Duff, Eddie Marsan and Rose Ayling-Ellis.

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