SNL UK’s George Fouracres: Being tipped for Doctor Who is hard to talk about

Saturday Night Live UK is, for want of a better word, enormous.

Debuting earlier this year after much fanfare — but also a fair amount of doubt and cynicism — its cast of actors and comedians have proved themselves to be exactly what British viewers were craving.

It’s been years since we had a huge sketch show on our screens. A format that dominated television for decades began to fall out of favour in the early 2000s, with the cost and scale of producing sketch comedy largely responsible for its decline.

Many wondered whether it would work in 2026, in an era of social media comedians and increasingly fragmented television audiences.

And then there was the other big question: could a UK version of one of the world’s most iconic late-night programmes possibly live up to its American original, a global TV institution since its debut in 1975?

For cast member Al Nash, there was never much doubt it could become a cultural phenomenon.

‘I had a sneaking suspicion from the start the show would be very well-received,’ he tells me. ‘And when I found out the cast, I was like “oh great” and when I found out who the writers are, I was like, “we’re in safe hands”.

Among the esteemed stars of the show bringing the surreal sketches to life are George Fouracres, the Shakespeare’s Globe actor and comedian from Wolverhampton who has tickled viewers with his outlandish Keir Starmer impressions; Larry Dean, the Glasgow-born stand-up with credits including Live at the Apollo, as well as comic actors and Taskmaster favourites Emma Sidi and Ania Magliano.

And, of course, Al Nash, who built a huge following online with his viral sketches.

The sketches, the majority of which are performed live each episode, range from mentions of nonces and silly send-ups of Jools Holland, to an adult father and son doing skin-on-skin like babies and the regular ‘news’ segment Weekend Update. Not much is off the table.

It’s an intense undertaking for the cast, crew and writers. There’s a full week of writing, 5am starts, rehearsals and filming the show’s pre-recorded sketches, with, as Larry Dean says, ‘just Sundays off to sleep’.

Saturday is the longest day, starting at 8am and often ending at 4am thanks to the afterparty, where the cast can find themselves celebrating alongside the celebrity hosts and musical guests. With previous guests including SNL US icon Tina Fey and Hollywood star Jamie Dornan, who could blame them?

The first season’s eight episodes were split by a two-week break halfway through, but that immense effort hasn’t been lost on the cast this time around as they prepare for season two — particularly now they know exactly what they’re letting themselves in for.

‘I’m practicing more Zen,’ Fouracres says, in that exaggerated, theatrical drawl that fans have grown to adore, adding that he is trying to ‘breakfast’ more, otherwise his day completely derails.

‘It’s easy to get swept up in it because the hours are long, but I repeatedly say we’re not going down the mines,’ Buckinghamshire-born Nash, 32, adds.

‘We’ve all worked harder at actual real-world jobs than this. It’s hard but it’s worth it and stress is all part of it and having some time away from it has been helpful to see the reaction.’

He adds, joking about fans begging for a constant year-round feed of episodes: ‘I think they’d love us to do an episode every week, but our brains and bodies would combust.

‘Yeh, we would die,’ Fouracres laughs, although it’s not a completely unserious hypothesis.

For 36-year-old Dean, whose high point last season was probably his remarkable impersonation of Louis Theroux alongside the man himself, it’s the lack of sleep that’s the hardest to deal with.

With the long week, and even longer Saturdays, culminating with the live broadcast at 10pm, he says that ‘you don’t have a sleep pattern’, adding that it’s basically like having a newborn baby.

And he feels they sort of have to go to the afterparties, despite being absolutely shattered.

‘It’s that camaraderie thing with the other cast members,’ he explains. ‘Also, you want to be polite to the guest afterwards.’

But all that hard work (and late-night partying) has paid off and has catapulted this brilliant collective of comics and actors into another level of fame and adulation.

Fans of SNL UK are obsessed, with both the surreal collection of sketches and the extremely watchable cast.

And there is one cast member who has received a lot of attention over a possible Doctor Who role – George Fouracres.

From his madcap 45 Seconds with Fouracres sketches (if you haven’t seen these, you must go and watch the clips, but it’s fair to say he exudes a sort of Bob Mortimer-style anarchy) and his parody of the creepy British Pork advert from the 1980s, Fouracres is a tour de force on SNL UK.

And Doctor Who and SNL lovers alike have been abuzz since TV oracle Richard Osman tipped him to become the next Time Lord thanks to his Shakespearean acting background as well as his comedy prowess.

I pose the suggestion to Fouracres, 35, and in a moment of rare shyness from the otherwise gregarious telly star, he looks away and smiles.

‘It’s hard to talk about because… like, obviously that would be my biggest dream ever come true, ever. That would be obviously the thing I would probably most like to do in the universe,’ he admits, getting a shade emotional.

‘Even the fact that people have brought it up is so flattering and so gorgeous to me as a fan of Doctor Who, a proper fan. The idea of fellow fans saying that about me is so massive to me and so lovely – I really appreciate it.’

‘I try and not pay attention to things generally, but I heard of it from my mum… She came in in the morning with a cup tea and was like “have you heard this about Doctor Who?”’

For now, though, Fouracres has another job to do: get through another season of SNL UK.

And for those who haven’t yet tuned in to watch it, or haven’t seen any of the viral online clips, Nash and Fouracres have suggested one sketch to ease yourself in: Emma Sidi’s long-finger skit.

The sketch sees Sidi play a deranged QVC host whose finger inexplicably grows longer and longer throughout the sketch, before revealing a disgusting dead monster hand.

Accompanied by that week’s host, Derry Girls star Nicola Coughlan, it’s four minutes of slapstick surrealism that Fouracres describes as a ‘Renaissance-like art tableau of absolute perfection’.

And if that’s not enough to whet your appetite, you don’t have to wait long for brand new moments of chaos, as the new series of Saturday Night Live UK starts on Saturday night on Sky, debuting with celebrity host Jeff Goldblum and CMAT as the music guest.

SNL UK returns for Series 2 on 12 September with the first six episodes, with the additional shows planned in early 2027.

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