SNL UK stages royal Sandringham face-off in latest cold open
Sandringham hosted an awkward family reunion as Saturday Night Live UK opened its fourth episode of season two with the Prince and Princess of Wales facing the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
The cold open, meaning the sketch that plays before the title sequence, put William and Kate on one side of the room and Harry and Meghan on the other. The episode was hosted by Danny Dyer and reported on 10 October, according to Deadline.
Freddie Meredith played Prince William and Annabel Marlow played Kate Middleton. Jack Shep played Prince Harry and Ayoade Bamgboye played Meghan Markle. Larry Dean appeared as King Charles and George Fouracres appeared as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
The trap was set by Andrew. The storyline had him fooling the family members into gathering together at Sandringham, which set up the exchange between the two couples.
Dyer led the episode as host, with Sasha Keable as the musical guest, meaning the act who performs between the comedy sketches. James Longman is lead producer of SNL UK, with Lorne Michaels as executive producer. The show is produced by Universal Television Alternative Studio's UK production team and Broadway Video.
The Sandringham sketch follows a run of royal openings for the British edition. The Season 2 premiere in September began with a cold open built around Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, according to Page Six. That sketch satirised a reported move back to Britain and joked that the couple had returned because they had run out of Netflix money.
That earlier sketch was set at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, according to USA Today. SNL UK later released it online as an official clip titled 'Harry and Meghan Return Home'.
For viewers catching up, the show airs on Sky and NOW. Clips from the royal sketches have been posted by the show, including the September Balmoral sketch and an official 'The Prince Andrew Plan Cold Open' clip.
What makes this stand out is the pattern. SNL UK has twice chosen the royal family to open a Saturday night show this season, first with the Sussexes alone and now with both couples plus the King and Andrew in one Sandringham scene.
