Description: The joke behind Princess in the Tower on 24 October 2026: a fairy-tale rescue turns into a London-style argument, complete with an obsolete soft-drink name.
The short answer: The sketch starts with the familiar Rapunzel setup, then destroys its courtly manners. Instead of a romantic climb up long hair, viewers describe an absurd request involving a toenail. The characters' language grows less refined as they quarrel, and a reference to Lilt rewards British viewers who remember the soft drink's old name.
The scene and its date
Saturday Night Live UK aired its Cynthia Erivo-hosted episode on Sky One at 10 p.m. British time on Saturday, 24 October 2026, with Blossoms as musical guest [1]. In the episode discussion, viewers identified a sketch called Princess in the Tower and praised the exchanges involving Erivo and cast member Hammed Animashaun [2][3]. The description here draws on those dated reactions, rather than claiming a direct viewing of the full sketch.
What is the fairy-tale setup?
In the Brothers Grimm's Rapunzel, a young woman lives in a tower with no ordinary entrance. Her extraordinarily long hair becomes the route up [4]. That gives a comedy writer an instantly recognisable promise: a suitor approaches, hair comes down, romance follows. Viewers instead reported a grotesque toenail variation, complaints about the tower's smell, and two people becoming increasingly hostile [2]. The storybook rescue has turned into an argument you might overhear on the street.
Why does Lilt matter?
Lilt was a distinctly British tropical fizzy drink. In February 2023, Coca-Cola announced that it would join the Fanta range as Fanta Pineapple & Grapefruit, while retaining the familiar flavour [5]. So when the sketch invokes Lilt, there is an extra layer for people who grew up with the brand: the name itself has been discontinued. A viewer highlighted the Lilt reference; another enjoyed the insult that someone else should be discontinued [2][3]. It is a wonderfully petty use of a real supermarket fact.
Where does the biggest laugh come from?
A popular observation in the post-show thread was that the dialogue becomes less fancy as the characters get angrier [3]. The visual setting promises grand fairy-tale etiquette, but the voices slide toward contemporary British bickering. That contrast also explains why some viewers called it an especially London-flavoured sketch [2]. The toe gag supplies shock; the increasingly ordinary insults supply rhythm. Neither requires a claim that the scene is a faithful adaptation of Disney's Tangled.
The takeaway
Princess in the Tower is funny because the story's expected ladder to love becomes a ladder to a row. A bizarre body-part joke, a discontinued drink name and a steady collapse in politeness all push the same premise further. The princess is still in a tower; the conversation has escaped into modern Britain.
Sources and verification: [1] Sky programme announcement; [2][3] audience discussion posted 24–25 October 2026; [5] Coca-Cola's 2023 rebranding announcement; [4] Grimm text. Checked 25 October 2026. The complete original sketch was not directly viewed, and scene-level details attributed to viewers remain second-hand.
References (5)
- https://www.skygroup.sky/en-gb/article/danny-dyer-james-norton-and-cynthia-erivo-to-host-next-three-episodes-of-saturday-night-live-uk skygroup.sky
- https://www.reddit.com/r/livefromlondon/comments/1xeep9t/live_discussion_october_24_2026_cynthia/ reddit.com
- https://www.reddit.com/r/livefromlondon/comments/1xeldyn/sketch_sorting_sunday_october_24th_2026_cynthia/ reddit.com
- https://library.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/digital-collection/digi/CV04/CV040000238.pdf library.nationalmuseum.gov.ph
- https://www.coca-cola.com/gb/en/media-center/lilt-joins-fanta-family-fanta-pineapple-and-grapefruit coca-cola.com
