SNL UK cold opened with comic Emma Sidi as Melania Trump reassuring BBQers in a borough of south London that she definitely isn’t buddies with disgraced pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

In an echo of the First Lady’s unexpected press statement this week, Sidi mimicked: “Never have I ever been friends with billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.”

“But what are you doing in a garden in Croydon?,” asked bemused BBQers played by Al Nash, Annabel Marlow and Jack Shep.

“I’m here to stop you nasty people spreading rumors about me,” pouted Melania. “We weren’t doing that, we weren’t even talking about you,” retorted the BBQers.

When invited to play a game of truth or dare, Melania won’t let the Epstein subject drop: “How dare you accuse me of female friendship with short-haired sex-trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell…”

The BBQers remain baffled by the performance: “Why do you keep bringing up all the Epstein stuff? Your husband literally started a war to distract us from it. It was kinda working, to be fair to the lad.”

Sidi’s Melania finally admits the performance is an attempt to make friends. “I have no friends, since they all randomly died in a maximum security prison…”

Keir Starmer, Peter Mandelson, Donald Trump, Rishi Sunak, Palantir, Scott Mills and the Grand National were among others to catch strays during the satire show. Jorja Smith was the music act.

British comedian and actor Jack Whitehall hosted the fourth live episode of the UK adaptation of NBC’s iconic sketch show on Sky One. His opening monologue included jokes about his upcoming wedding (to model partner Roxy Horner), largely lamenting the cost and need to socialise with so many people.

“It’s like planning a royal wedding,” Whitehall quipped. “The whole thing could be ruined if my uncle turned up.”

Saturday Night Live UK will be hoping for a ratings bounce back. The show, which has received largely positive critical reaction, has lost the best part of 100,000 viewers since its premiere. The third episode in the series, hosted by Riz Ahmed, was watched by 130,100 viewers at 10PM on Sky, according to BARB figures.

The audience, which delivered a 1.8% viewing share, was down 36% on the second week’s rating of 205,000 and 42% on the series debut, which was hosted by Tina Fey and was watched by 226,000 viewers.

SNL UK remains above what an average Sky show gets in the late Saturday slot. It also continues to beat the UK transmission of the U.S version of the sketch series, which is shown on Sky Comedy.