Sky One and the ABC in Australia have teamed up to co-commission Frayed, a six episode comedy drama created by and starring Sarah Kendall. The series is set to premiere later this year.
Frayed is set in London in 1988 and follows Simone Burbeck, whose 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.
The six episode comedy series is being produced by Merman in association with Guesswork and stars Sarah Kendall (Beehive), Diane Morgan (Motherland) and Robert Webb (Peep Show). “We can all relate in some way to complex family drama, which is at the heart of this ingeniously written comedy”, said Sky’s Head of Comedy Jon Mountague. “Sarah Kendall is an exceptional lead and I’m excited to add Frayed to Sky’s line-up of original British comedy in 2019.” Sky Vision will handle global sales.
Frayed is the latest scripted comedy commission for Sky One. The satcaster’s flagship channel upcoming comedy slate includes: the Maisie Williams (Game Of Thrones) fronted Two Weeks To Live; police comedy Code 404, starring Daniel Mays (Line Of Duty) and Stephen Graham (Boardwalk Empire); Hitmen, the first scripted comedy series from Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc; and GCHQ comedy Intelligence, starring David Schwimmer (American Crime Story) and Nick Mohammed (The Martian).