Ncuti Gatwa Regenerates in Doctor Who Parody Before SNL UK Finale

Ncuti Gatwa appears in a teaser sketch ahead of his hosting job on the final episode of Saturday Night Live UK season 1. The clip leans on a Doctor Who-style regeneration gag, with Hannah Waddingham turning into Gatwa as the show pushes its finale on Saturday 16 May at 10pm on Sky One and NOW.

Waddingham to Gatwa

Hannah Waddingham regenerates into Gatwa in the teaser while Emma Sidi and Larry Dean explain the setup to him. The cast says they regenerate the hosts every week, a neat way to fold the host handoff into the show’s own promo cycle.

Gatwa’s first response lands the joke quickly: “Like Doctor Who?” Emma Sidi answers, “For copyright reasons, it's "very, slightly different"...” and says there are actually only two cast members on SNL UK. That gives the sketch its friction point: it borrows the language of a much bigger sci-fi machine while shrinking the mechanics down to a two-person comic premise.

Doctor Who echoes

The parody works because Gatwa already carried the Doctor Who connection last year, when his version of the Doctor regenerated into Billie Piper in a surprise scene. SNL UK had already used that overlap once before, with Aimee Lou Wood appearing as the Doctor’s companion in an earlier sketch, so this is not a one-off reference but a repeating bit of branding around Gatwa’s screen identity.

Larry Dean then proposes that he can regenerate too, and the teaser sends him into something very different. Emma Sidi transforms into Al Nash in the same clip, keeping the promo focused on the ensemble rather than turning it into a pure Gatwa cameo.

Season 1 finale push

The timing is straightforward: this week’s teaser is there to pull viewers into the season 1 finale, which still has Hannah Waddingham among the recent hosts before Gatwa takes over the slot. The show has already been renewed for a second season of 12 episodes, due to start airing on Sky One from September 2026.

For viewers, the immediate move is simple: tune in on Saturday 16 May at 10pm on Sky One and NOW if they want the finale and the Gatwa hosting turn. Lorne Michaels put the renewal in business terms, saying, “I'm incredibly proud of our team and the show. It keeps getting better every week. I'm grateful to Dana Strong and Sky for believing in and supporting SNL UK. I'm excited for the season ahead.”