While the cast and writers of Saturday Night Live UK are the stars and heart of the British version, the show’s secret sauce is, of course, its craftsmen. From hand-stitching every strand of hair on David Attenborough’s wig to tailoring Melania Trump’s flawless suit, the costume, make-up and hair teams are the unsung heroes of SNL UK.
Kevin Fortune handles hair and makeup (the team also provides prosthetics when needed), which ranges from 14 to 18 people depending on the day of the week, while Annie Harding heads up the costume department, which is made up of about six costume assistants.
Their week begins on Tuesday, when they meet celebrity guest hosts (past appearances have included Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan and Hannah Waddingham) and film promos for next Saturday’s episode (this week’s season finale is hosted by Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa).
On Wednesday morning, they receive about 35 scripts (10 of which ultimately get the green light), followed by a cast read-through to see what works. The department head then holds a “speed date” meeting with the scriptwriters and producers to discuss makeup, costumes, and sets. On Thursday, Harding goes shopping and renting costumes, while Fortune instructs the team to put on wigs, and by Friday, the team has filmed two pre-recorded sketches that will be aired in between Saturday’s shows.
“This is one of the busiest shows I’ve ever done, because anyone could come down at any time and say, ‘Kevin, we changed our minds, we want this,'” Fortune says. “And I say, ‘Okay!'” Because I don’t want to be one of those people who says, “It’s Thursday afternoon, are you crazy?” ”
The Melania Trump sketch in episode 4 is a perfect example. The real first lady, Melania, held an impromptu press conference about her relationship with pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday, April 9, and by the following evening, the cast and writers had created a Melania-themed skit for the cold open and handed it over to Harding. That left her with just one Saturday, the day of the show, to find the right outfit to transform Emma Siddy into the first lady.
“That suit didn’t exist,” Hardinge reveals. “I managed to find a rental company that was open on Saturdays. I think there’s only one company, but I found one that really fit the look. I had it altered quite a bit to suit Emma, so it had a tight look like Melania’s.”
While the craftsmen behind the American version, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, have demonstrated their skill at this quick production, this is the first time a show of this scale has been seen in the UK (as Variety first reported, the budget per episode is around $2.6 million). “It’s like we’re doing a whole new live West End show every week,” says Fortune. Plus, of course, there are pre-recorded VTs and promos that need to be filmed before they air.
“Believe it or not, I’ve been doing this for 46 years and I’ve never experienced a show like this. It’s so unique,” Harding says.
In some cases, teams may have longer lead times. The “Crabman” sketch in episode two, in which George Fouracres dressed up as a giant crab in a parody of the game show “Traitor,” was one of the most time-consuming and expensive costumes ever, “requiring weeks of back and forth and ultimately costing us a lot of money,” Hardinge said. Complicating matters is the fact that “SNL” has a policy that requires actors’ faces to be visible even in “big name” costumes.
Made of latex and resin, the Clubman required weeks of labor as each layer needed to dry before proceeding to the next. Finally, a visual artist came in and sprayed it red to give it a “crab-like texture and feel,” down to the shell and barnacles.
The costume had a running time of about four minutes, during which host Riz Ahmed and the cast of SNL UK humorously tried to guess who was the “Great Big Crab Man.” Since then, the Clubman has been relegated to a cardboard box in Harding’s office. “I don’t know if he’ll come back,” she says. “He may appear in another sketch.”
Just as the original “SNL” learned last year when Sarah Sherman parodied Amy Lou Wood with oversized dentures and a gag about fluoride, parodying real humans, unlike crustaceans, can be a minefield. Wood called this portrayal “mean and unfunny”.
How far into comedy does Fortune lean into her makeup? “That’s something I always try to think about every time I create a character,” he says. “It’s like, ‘What’s funny about this?’ Otherwise, we’re just creating some weird caricature. I don’t want to insult anyone. I want people to think, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s funny.’ Oh, that’s exactly her. ”
One of the biggest constraints is simply the time it takes to put on and take off the costume. “Sometimes it’s only one minute and 32 seconds,” Fortune reveals. “You may have styled the wig perfectly,” but by the time cast members run onto set with the wigs on their heads, the wigs don’t look all that pretty. Like Jack Shepp’s Princess Diana costume in the show’s first episode, the royal’s traditional textured pixie cut gave her an even more tousled look than she might have actually worn (though it added to the eccentricity).
In the same sketch, Annabel Marlowe is dressed as Elizabeth I in a hired-era gown, of which Hardinge almost completely reconstructed the back of the gown to make it easier to put on and take off. “We have to take every hook and eye off (on the back),” she says. “All fasteners must be fastened with Velcro.”
Wigs are similarly labor intensive. “It takes about eight weeks to make a really good wig and usually costs about £8,000 ($10,650),” Fortune says. “We don’t have that time. We have three or four days. But whatever we do, we have to make it look as realistic as possible in the limited time we have. It’s not about the budget, it’s about the time we have.”
Surprisingly, the most expensive hairpiece ever belonged to Attenborough. It was a combination of a cheap wig costing 20 pounds (about $26) for the back and dozens of man-hours tying individual hairs to the lace front to create the centenarian’s signature putty, Fortune magazine revealed. “It takes a lot of effort to make people think, ‘Oh, this is his hair,'” Fortune says. Fortunately, the wig was worn again by the Four Acres in Episode 7, when a parody Attenborough appeared during Weekend Update to wrestle a disgruntled Rhino.
Season 2 is just around the corner, and we’re sure the cast and craftsmen have more surprises in store. That includes, hopefully, the return of Crabman.
