Sky : New Sky original comedy Frayed

Award-winning Australian comedian Sarah Kendall will star in the bittersweet dark comedy Frayed, a Sky original production, co-commissioned with ABC in Australia. The comedy is the first scripted co-commission between the two broadcasters and is now filming in Newcastle (NSW), Sydney, and London.

Set in 1989, Frayed follows the journey of Sammy Cooper (Sarah Kendall), a fabulously wealthy London housewife who is forced to return to the town in Australia she grew up in. In coming home, Sammy must revisit her past and the events that led her to flee as a teenager years ago.

Painfully funny and sometimes dark, 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.

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

Sky's Head of Comedy Jon Mountague says: '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.'

ABC Head of Comedy Rick Kalowski says: 'Frayed is among the funniest, but also most moving, pieces I've ever had the pleasure to work on. I'd been a fan of Sarah Kendall's standup for years and am delighted to be collaborating with Sky, Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford's Merman, and Kevin Whyte's Guesswork to bring Frayed to Australian and worldwide audiences next year.'

Frayed is written by Kendall and produced by Merman (Motherland/BBC, There She Goes/BBC, Women on the Verge/UKTV, Catastrophe C4/Amazon) the production company founded and run by award-winning duo Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford, in association with Australia's Guesswork Television (ABC's Rosehaven, Get Krack!n, Please Like Me).

Frayed (6x45') will air on Sky and streaming service NOW TV, and ABC in Australia in 2019.

Frayed is co-founded and distributed internationally by Sky Vision.

Production Credits: A Merman production in association with Guesswork Television for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Sky in association with and 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.

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About Sky

With 23 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 MERMAN

Merman was founded in 2014 by award-winning duo Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford. Since then, Merman has gathered multiple accolades the world over, including BAFTA, Emmy and RTS nominations.

Merman's recent projects include: The 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; the third 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.

In 2017, Merman opened offices in LA and NYC, alongside a branded entertainment division, headed by Academy- and Emmy-nominated producer Kira Carstensen and advertising veteran Jeremy Rainbird. The London office is under the directorship of EP/Partner Dan Dickenson and Siobhan Murphy, Development Director of Commercials and Branded.

Merman also recently launched Mermade, its brand new digitally focused arm specialising in the creation of non-broadcast content funded by and for social and streaming platforms, brands and publishers: 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 2014. 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