Sarah Kendall on the outrageous 80s outfits in her comedy ‘Frayed’- “I do look good in shoulder pads"

Virgin Radio

16 Mar 2022, 11:08

Australian comedian Sarah Kendall joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky this morning to talk about the new series of her comedy-drama ‘Frayed’.

Kendall wrote and starred in the Sky series, which follows Samantha 'Sammy' Cooper (Kendall), a wealthy housewife in London who is forced to return to her hometown of Newcastle in Australia after the death of her husband. However, she soon discovers his accumulated debts have left her almost penniless.

‘Frayed’ also stars some other comedians you might have heard of, such as Dianne Morgan and Robert Webb, and is set in the late 80s- meaning the wardrobe is fabulous.

Speaking about the outrageous fashion in the show, Sarah told Chris: “You know what, I do look good in shoulder pads.

“I put on the costumes and thought, ‘I’ve never looked this good!’”.

She also addressed, of course, her incredible hairstyle in the show, which she says is inspired by an 80s TV icon.

“You remember the way Linda Evans had her hair in ‘Dynasty’? That was the Linda Evans.

“The thing is with a haircut like that, if you don’t style it, you look insane and if you do style it, you look more insane.”

She added: “The fringe was a horror show.”

Attention to detail to the time period is something that ‘Frayed’ does really well, and Sarah revealed the lengths they go to in making sure everything is true to how it would have been in the 80s.

She said: “We would close off roads, and all these 80s cars would be going through in the background, and sometimes, we would do a scene and see a new car in the background. So, we would have to CGI it out.”

Speaking of cars, Sarah herself got the opportunity to drive some pretty cool ones and do some interesting tricks in them for the series.

She explained: “I had to do this one scene in a Triumph, and I had to rip up the handbrake so the tires screeched, and I was good at it!

“I’m not good at many things, but I think I could be a stunt driver.”

Another thing the series is praised for is its ability to maintain a balance between comedy and approaching challenging subjects- which is not an easy task.

Sarah told Chris the key to making sure there is a balance between comedy and drama is all in the writing.

She said: “I think in the writing that I’ve done, what you don’t want to do is go too heavily on either, and I think the problem when it goes wrong is the jokes are too cheap, or the drama gets sentimental.

“So, you try to keep an integrity to it- you don’t want the jokes to be stapled on and the drama to feel manufactured.”

Frayed series two premieres at 10:30pm on Sky Max, and series one is available to watch on catchup.

For more great interviews listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.