Sarah Kendall’s ‘Frayed’ confirmed to air on 26 September on Sky One

On 26 September 2019, Sky One and NOW TV takes audiences down under with brand new, bitter-sweet and painfully funny Sky original comedy, ‘Frayed’ (6 x 45’) co-commissioned with ABC Australia.

Frayed is written by and stars celebrated comedian Sarah Kendall (Beehive), who is joined by British talent Diane Morgan (Motherland) and the award-winning Robert Webb (Peep Show). Landing on the home of comedy this Autumn, ‘Frayed’ is produced by Merman (Motherland/BBC, This Way Up/C4) in association with Guesswork.

Set in London, 1988, Simone Burbeck’s (Sarah Kendall) life appears perfect. She lives in a mansion in London with her perfect husband and children, and her life is a merry-go-round of expensive renovations, dinner parties and school fundraisers. There’s just one problem: it’s all lies.

When her husband has a fatal heart attack in a disastrous session with a prostitute, the true state of their finances is revealed. Simone is broke, homeless and a social outcast. With no other options, and two children to care for, she is forced to return to her family home in Newcastle, Australia. It turns out Simone’s past isn’t quite the story that she told everyone in London. Nothing about Simone is what it appears to be. Oh, and her real name is Sammy. 

Sammy plans to cool her heels in Newcastle while she figures out a strategy to get back to London. However, the life and the people she ran away from over 20 years ago slowly pull her back in. Sammy thought she could simply shut the door on her past. But her past is about to bash that door down.

Creator and Star Sarah Kendall said: “I just wanted to visit my family in Newcastle but I ended up shooting a 6 part comedy here for Sky and ABC. I’m incredibly excited to be given this opportunity. And I also love free flights.”

Sky’s Head of Comedy Jon Mountague said: “We can all relate in some way to complex family drama, which is at the heart of this ingeniously written comedy. Sarah Kendall is an exceptional lead and I’m excited to add Frayed to Sky’s line-up of original British comedy in 2019.”

Frayed is full of complex characters, dubious decisions and unfortunate events; and at its heart is the journey of one flawed family confronting their secrets and trying to find a way back. 

Frayed will be distributed by Sky Vision and is the latest in a string of recent commissions as Sky continues to invest in original productions. Forthcoming Sky originals include Catherine The Great starring Helen Mirren; Code 404 with Stephen Graham and Daniel Mays; Brassic with Michelle Keegan; Intelligence fronted by David Schwimmer and Nick Mohammed; Hit Men, Mel and Sue’s first scripted comedy series, Breeders with Martin Freeman and series 2 of In The Long Run with Idris Elba.

2019 has been a record year for Sky originals with 19-time Emmy-nominated Chernobyl becoming the most watched original ever with over 4m viewers (please check with IDS). And away from the screen, Sky secured a record BAFTA haul with seven awards, six going to Sky originals including Patrick Melrose, Sally4Ever and A League of Their Own, alongside 3 RTS Programme Awards for Save Me and The Art of Drumming.

A Merman production in association with Guesswork Television for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Sky in association with Create NSW. Produced by Nicole O’Donohue. Merman Executive Producers Clelia Mountford and Sharon Horgan. Guesswork Television Executive Producer Kevin Whyte. Commissioned by Sky’s Executive Producer Morwenna Gordon. ABC Executive Producers Rick Kalowski and Que Minh Luu.  

For more information please contact:

calum.mcgarry@premiercomms.com  / jason.woodley@premiercomms.com

About Sky  
With 23.7 million customers across seven countries, Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of the Comcast group. 

We have 31,000 colleagues and together we want to connect our customers to more of what they love, including our award-winning original productions, like Patrick Melrose and Save Me, and great shows from our partners including HBO, Showtime and Warner Bros. And our ever-improving technology makes it even easier for customers to watch more of the shows they love with personalised recommendations and voice control and, our online streaming service, NOW TV, brings all the enjoyment of Sky with the flexibility of a contract free service. 

We treat our customers better than anyone else in our field, as Ofcom’s complaints data shows, and we look after our staff too. Sky is one of The Times Top 50 employers for women and we’re in Stonewall’s list of Top 50 LGBT-Inclusive employers. 

We also use our position as the leading entertainment business in Europe to do the right thing. As part of Sky Ocean Rescue campaign, we’re committing to be completely single-use plastic free by 2020, we’re investing £25million over five years in ocean-saving tech and we’re supporting the WWF to protect our oceans with designated Marine Protected Areas. 

About NOW TV 

NOW TV is a pick and mix TV streaming service that lets you choose from a range of passes contract free. 

Available anytime, anywhere in the UK, you can watch through a NOW TV Box or NOW TV Smart Stick, or on the web. The NOW TV app is also available on over 60 devices. 

Whether you’re into big dramas, blockbuster movies, live sports or even just some extra TV for the kids, NOW TV offers four passes which include the latest and best TV and movies: Entertainment, Sky Cinema, Kids and Sky Sports.  

This includes Sky Atlantic, over 300 Box Sets on demand, all 10 Sky Sports channels and over 1,000 movies – all available with no contract. 

For more information: 

·        Visit nowtv.com 

·        Follow us at facebook.com/NOWTV  

·        Join the conversation on twitter @NOWTV  

·        Visit us at Youtube.com/nowtvofficial 

Merman’s most recent projects include brand new Channel 4/Hulu comedy drama This Way Up starring and written by Aisling Bea, a second series of Motherland for BBC2, and the SKY/ABC comedy drama Frayed starring and written by Sarah Kendall (Beehive), which also stars Diane Morgan (Motherland) and award-winning comedian Robert Webb (Peep Show) amongst others.

Further Merman projects include BAFTA Award-winning There She Goes for BBC4, starring David Tennant and Jessica Hynes; Women on the Verge for UKTV’s W channel, starring Kerry Condon, Nina Sosanya and Eileen Walsh and written by Lorna Martin; Motherland for BBC2 starring Anna Maxwell Martin, Lucy Punch and Diane Morgan; Bliss for Sky 1 starring Heather Graham and Stephen Mangan; four series of the award-winning Catastrophe for Channel 4/Amazon created by and starring Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney; and Divorce by Sharon Horgan for HBO starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Thomas Hayden Church.

Merman has also produced multiple shorts for Sky Arts across its different strands, including the BAFTA TV award-winning Morgana Robinson’s Summer: Dream Land, and Andy and the Donald in the recent season of Urban Myths.

With offices in LA and NYC, Merman works in all areas of the worlds of entertainment and communications including creating and executing the next generation of branded entertainment. Merman’s sister company Mermade is a digitally focused arm specialising in the creation of non-broadcast content: www.hellomermade.com

Merman Founders Clelia Mountford and Sharon Horgan first met on Season 1 of The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret as producer and actor respectively. Both enjoyed full and diverse careers before joining forces to create Merman. In addition to working with established writers, actors and directors around the world, they remain committed to discovering and nurturing new talent as the Merman family grows. www.hellomerman.com