Sky Welcomes 'Horror Shorts' This Halloween

Sky has confirmed that a collection of comedy Horror Shorts is to air this Halloween. For the first time, the series will be directed by an all-female line-up.

Ghastly ghost tours, a wedding turned sinister and mysterious strangers harbouring scary secrets make for a spooky, yet hilarious collection of stories that includes 'A Deal' (directed by Nida Manzoor), 'It Should Have Been Me' (directed by Emily Greenwood), and 'Twin Thing' (directed by Kate Herron). The collection of Halloween-themed shorts are curated and produced by the Merman team of Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford.

'A Deal' is written by Dan Mersh and will be directed by Nida Manzoor. Starring Sheila Reid, Mandeep Dhillon and Jaz Deol, the short tells the story of Jen and her encounter with a strange woman in a pub who promises her £4 million tax-free in exchange for giving her scary information about her future. What does Jen do? She wants the £4m, but can she handle the knowledge this stranger will tell her?

'It Should Have Been Me' is written by Bex Harvey and Christian Azzola and directed by Emily Greenwood. Starring Jessica Knappett and Jessica Regan, It Should Have Been Me commences on the morning of Kelly's wedding – and she has turned into a bridezilla. Only one of her bridesmaids has turned up, while other strange happenings are going on at the hotel. The phones stop working, the door is jammed shut, and there are footsteps echoing down the corridor. Is something sinister afoot or is it a case of one wedding too far for Caroline?

'Twin Thing' is written by Andi Osho and directed by Kate Herron. Starring Andi Osho, Evelyn Mok and Jackie Clune, 'Twin Thing' focuses on twins Kehinde & Taiwo. While they are identical, they are chalk and cheese in every other respect. Kehinde, who is an historian, launches her guided tour, actress Taiwo seems determined to jeopardise its accuracy by vamping up the scare factor.

Sharon Horgan, Merman Founder and Executive Producer, said: "Finding strong female voices has always been important to us at Merman because there's still an imbalance there to address. To be able to champion these women through Sky's comedy shorts was a great opportunity."

Clelia Mountford, Merman Founder and Executive Producer, added: "We were thrilled to have the opportunity to meet just some of the brilliant female directors in the industry for this season of shorts, and the three we are working with have reaffirmed how the female gaze can result in exciting and surprising results in comedy. At Merman we remain committed to exploring opportunities for female directors and Sky's shorts are a wonderful example of this."

Jon Mountague, Head of Sky Comedy, commented: "This series of shorts has been created by a brilliant cohort of all-female directors who are bringing something new, exciting and refreshing to the comedy line-up on Sky. Through our partnership with the extremely talented Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford of Merman, Sky hopes to encourage more women to get involved with directing, writing and all technical roles in comedy."

The Halloween Horror Shorts have been commissioned for Sky by head of comedy Jon Mountague. They will be available on Sky on demand from 23 October, and will air on Sky Arts from 31 October.

(JP/LM)