Jack Thorne
Jack Thorne FRSL is a British playwright, screenwriter, and producer.
Thorne is best known for writing the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the films Wonder, Enola Holmes and the latter's sequel, and the television programme His Dark Materials. Between 2010 and 2015, Thorne co-wrote three mini-series – This Is England '86, This Is England '88 and This Is England '90 – with director Shane Meadows.
In 2023, Thorne's four-part mini-series Best Interests was released starring Michael Sheen and Sharon Horgan. It was nominated for several awards, winning Best Limited Series at the Banff Rockie Awards.
Thorne's two 2025 mini-series, Toxic Town and Adolescence, were released on Netflix to widespread critical acclaim.
Early life and education
Thorne was born in Bristol on 6 December 1978. He was educated at St Bartholomew's School in Newbury, Berkshire, and studied politics at Pembroke College, Cambridge, matriculating in 1998. He was forced to "degrade" due to ill health in his third year, but returned to finish his studies and graduated with lower second-class honours in 2002.Career
Theatre
Thorne's plays for the stage include When You Cure Me, Fanny and Faggot, Stacy, Burying Your Brother in the Pavement, 2 May 1997, Bunny which won a Fringe First at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival and Hope. He also collaborated on Greenland with Moira Buffini, Penelope Skinner and Matt Charman at the National Theatre. In 2011 he participated in the Bush Theatre's project Sixty-Six Books, for which he wrote a piece based upon a book of the King James Bible. In 2012 his version of Friedrich Duerrenmatt's The Physicists was staged at the Donmar Warehouse.Thorne's 2013 adaptation of the book and film Let The Right One In was staged in a production by the National Theatre of Scotland at Dundee Rep Theatre, London's Royal Court Theatre, West End and New York's St. Ann's Warehouse. In summer 2015, his play The Solid Life of Sugar Water premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, produced by Graeae Theatre Company and Theatre Royal Plymouth, it then toured in early 2016, with a run at the National Theatre in March 2016. Together with the composer Stephen Warbeck, Thorne wrote Junkyard, a coming-of-age musical centred around 'The Vench', an adventure playground in Lockleaze, Bristol.
Thorne wrote the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, based on an original story by Thorne, J. K. Rowling and John Tiffany, which is running at the Palace Theatre in London's West End since August 2016, on Broadway at the Lyric Theatre since April 2018, in Melbourne's Princess Theatre since February 2019 and San Francisco's Curran Theatre since December 2019. Thorne also wrote a new adaptation of Woyzeck by Georg Büchner for the Old Vic in 2017 with John Boyega in the title role. He wrote a new adaptation of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens for the Old Vic for the Christmas 2017 season, directed by Matthew Warchus, which has subsequently returned every year, as well as for the 2019 season on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre and the 2020 live broadcast through Old Vic: On Camera due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thorne rewrote the musical adaptation of King Kong for its 2018 Broadway debut. Thorne penned the play the end of history for Royal Court Theatre in 2019, starring David Morrissey and Lesley Sharp. Thorne's play Sunday premiered at Atlantic Theatre Company in New York in 2019, directed by Lee Sunday Evans. In June 2021, his adaptation of After Life based on the film of the same name opened at the National Theatre, London.
In April 2023, Thorne's play The Motive and the Cue, directed by Sam Mendes, about the making of Richard Burton and John Gielgud's Hamlet, opened in the Lyttleton Theatre at the National Theatre, before transferring to the Noël Coward Theatre in the West End in December 2023. In June 2023, his play When Winston Went to War with the Wireless, directed by Katy Rudd, about the BBC during the 1926 General Strike, premiered at the Donmar Warehouse. In November 2023, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a prequel to the Netflix Series by Kate Trefry with a story by Thorne, Trefry and The Duffer Brothers and directed by Stephen Daldry, opened at the Phoenix Theatre, London.
Thorne's plays are published by Nick Hern Books.
Television
Thorne has written for the TV shows Skins and Shameless. He co-created Cast Offs, and co-wrote This Is England '86, ''This Is England '88, This Is England '90, and The Virtues with Shane Meadows. Thorne was also in the running to write an episode for the fifth series of Doctor Who, but amicably parted ways with the production. In August 2010, BBC Three announced Thorne would be writing a 60-minute, six episode supernatural drama for the channel called Touch, later re-titled The Fades. In 2012, he won BAFTA awards for both drama series and serial. In 2014, Thorne's original rural teen murder drama Glue premiered on E4 and the show was nominated Best Multichannel Programme and the 2015 Broadcast Awards. In autumn of 2015 This Is England '90 was broadcast on Channel 4 and earned Thorne a Best Series Award at the Jameson Empire Awards 2016 and the BAFTA for Best Mini-Series in 2016. Next, the pan-European diamond-heist thriller for Sky Atlantic The Last Panthers, which aired in the UK in September 2015, was BAFTA nominated for Best Drama Series. To round up a hat-trick of nominations at the 2016 BAFTA TV Awards, Thorne's BBC 3 drama Don't Take My Baby was nominated and went on to win the BAFTA for Best Single Drama. Thorne's Channel 4 drama National Treasure started on 20 September 2016 and won the BAFTA for Best Mini-Series in 2017.In April 2016 it was announced that Thorne would be adapting Philip Pullman's epic trilogy His Dark Materials for BBC One. In 2017, it was announced that he would write an episode of the Channel 4/Amazon Video series Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams and would write the Damien Chazelle musical drama Netflix series The Eddy. Thorne's four-part dark drama Kiri began on Channel Four on 10 January 2018 and was nominated for Best Mini Series at the 2019 BAFTA's. His Channel Four show The Accident began on 24 October 2019 and starred Sarah Lancashire.
In 2021, Thorne wrote the television film Help. Set and filmed in Liverpool, Help focused on the plight of disabled people and their carers during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK and addressed the multitude of ways in which Boris Johnson's government had failed them. It was acclaimed by critics, with Carol Midgley of The Times calling it "a shaming nightmare all ministers should see", and won Best Drama at the 2021 Rose d'Or Awards.
In 2022, Thorne co-wrote Then Barbara Met Alan with Genevieve Barr, the true story of Barbara Lisicki and Alan Holdsworth, the founders of DAN. It tells the story of two disabled cabaret performers who meet at a gig in 1989, fall in love and, driven by their own experiences and the experiences of those around them of discrimination, mistreatment, and the realities of living in an ableist society, lead protests nationwide, eventually leading to the passing of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. Then Barbara Met Alan was received to both popular and critical acclaim, with Frances Ryan of The Guardian saying "By the time the real-life Barbara was on screen in the final scene – with a ramp symbolically coming out of a bus to finally give her entry – I was crying. For what we gained. For what was taken from us for decades, and still is. For the campaigners who gave so much for my generation and those that do today. Roar in the streets and kiss your lover. This is what disability looks like – and the battle continues."
In 2023, it was announced Thorne would write a television adaptation of Lord of the Flies. On 10 August 2023 it was announced that Thorne would write Toxic Town, a series dramatising the Corby toxic waste scandal. It was executive produced by Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones.
Thorne wrote about the News International phone hacking scandal for the ITVX television series The Hack. In January 2025 it was announced that The Hack, which was filmed in 2024, would be broadcast later in 2025, on ITV and STV. Filming began in 2025 of Thorne's romantic drama Falling'', starring Keely Hawes and Paapa Essiedu.
Radio
Thorne has written four plays for radio; an adaptation of When You Cure Me, Left at the Angel, an adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and People Snogging in Public Places. The latter won him the Sony Radio Academy Awards Gold for Best Drama 2010. The judges described it "as a wonderfully written and performed, highly original piece of radio drama in which the production perfectly mirrored the subject. Painful and funny, it was a bold exciting listen." A Summer Night was Thorne's response to the 2011 London riots, transmitted live as part of the Free Thinking festival.In 2012, People Snogging in Public Places was produced and broadcast by France-Culture under the French title of Regarder passer les trains.
Film
Thorne's first film The Scouting Book for Boys was released in 2009, it won him Best Newcomer at the London Film Festival. The jury said, "Jack Thorne is a poetic writer with an end-of-the-world imagination and a real gift for story-telling." Thorne has been commissioned to write feature films for producers both sides of the Atlantic, with credits including War Book starring Sophie Okonedo which Tom Harper directed, and A Long Way Down starring Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette and Aaron Paul based on the novel by Nick Hornby.On 8 May 2013, Thorne was hired to write Wonder, a film adaptation of the 2012 novel of the same name by R.J. Palacio. Thorne co-wrote the script with Steve Conrad and Stephen Chbosky. The latter directed the film, which starred Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, and Jacob Tremblay and was released on 17 November 2017. On 2 August 2017, it was announced he would rewrite the script for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but on 12 September 2017, he was replaced by J. J. Abrams and Chris Terrio. In 2018, it was announced that he would rewrite the initial screenplay penned by Chris Weitz for Disney's live-action adaptation of Pinocchio, then to be directed by Paul King.
Thorne also co-wrote the 2019 film The Aeronauts with Tom Harper for Amazon Studios, starring Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne. Although Amazon does not release exact streaming figures, Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios said in an interview with Deadline Hollywood that as of January 2020 The Aeronauts was the most viewed movie of all time on Amazon Prime.
2020 saw the release of three more films written by Thorne, including Radioactive, a biographical drama about Marie Curie, starring Rosamund Pike; The Secret Garden, an adaptation of the novel of the same name; and Enola Holmes, about the sister of Sherlock Holmes, starring Millie Bobby Brown and Helena Bonham Carter. Thorne would also write the sequel, which released on Netflix in 2022. Thorne wrote a treatment to the 2025 sequel to Tron: Legacy, titled Tron: Ares, though he ultimately went uncredited.
Campaigning and advocacy
Thorne has been a long-term advocate for the disabled community in the dramatic arts. After he developed cholinergic urticaria when he was 20 years old, he became allergic to outdoor heat, artificial heat, and his own body heat. This gave him chronic pain that forced him to leave university and spend much of his early twenties in bed. Despite this, he felt unsure whether he could identify as a disabled person; after attending a Graeae Theatre Company open day three years after his diagnosis, he was accepted with open arms. He described the incident as a "coming out moment" and a "crucial part" of who he is. He has since written disabled dramas The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Spastic King, Cast Offs, The Solid Life of Sugar Water, Don't Take My Baby, CripTales, and Then Barbara Met Alan, and has become a patron of the Graeae Theatre Company.In August 2021, Thorne delivered the Edinburgh TV Festival's prestigious MacTaggart Lecture. He used the speech to discuss television's power as an "empathy box" in the living room of millions and its failings for neglecting a large and vibrant part of the populace by poorly representing the disabled community. Thorne points to the great suffering of disabled people during the COVID-19 pandemic in which the media rendered huge numbers of deaths acceptable through usage of the term "underlying health condition". The speech also outlined how television industry practice has been discriminatory towards disabled artists, and the dire need for the industry to commit to change, both off-screen and on; alongside Genevieve Barr and Katie Player, Thorne announced a pressure group called Underlying Health Condition which aims to elevate disabled voices in the industry. Thorne argues that more disabled stories written by disabled people and performed by disabled people would make visible what's invisible in the "empathy box" in the homes of the public and cause change to happen.
On 3 December 2021, Underlying Health Condition was launched at an event at the Tate Modern, collaborating with other disability organisations such as Disabled Artists Networking Community, the Creative Diversity Network and 1in4 Coalition, to propose a series of requirements and measures to accommodate and support disabled artists in television. This, in turn, led to the launch of The TV Access Project, or TAP, which has seen 10 of the UK's biggest broadcasters commit to the full inclusion of Deaf Disabled and/or Neurodivergent Talent by 2030. TAP created best practice guidelines to ensure this inclusion, referred to as the 5As: Anticipate, Ask, Assess, Adjust, Advocate.
Within its first year, TAP delivered 20 sustainable, tangible solutions towards its vision of full inclusion, including launching TAPStars, a programme funded by the broadcasters and streamers who are TAP members to support early-career disabled off-screen talent; introducing an Access To Work pilot scheme to fast-track applications and access provision for freelances, and oversee reimbursements from Access to Work; securing a commitment from all TAP members to fund necessary access costs not covered by Access to Work, over and above the production budget; giving 82 Commissioning Editors and senior leaders from TAP members fundamental 5As training, delivered by CDN; and writing an outline of key access-related roles and responsibilities across productions and commissioning, to be adopted alongside access coordinators.
In August 2024, it was announced that all 10 TAP members - the BBC, Channel 4, ITV, Disney+, UKTV, BritBox, Sky UK, Paramount Pictures, STV and Amazon Prime Video – would boycott any studios and production spaces which had not completed the TV Access Project's accessibility audit by August 2025. This audit requires studios to self-assess their own accessibility in 4 key areas: Production buildings, Locations – external, Locations – Internal, and Outside Broadcast.
Personal life
Thorne is married to Rachel Mason. They underwent multiple attempts at IVF to have their son, Elliott. The experience later led them to develop the film Joy. His wife's sister Cath is married to the comedian Frank Skinner.In 2022, Thorne was diagnosed as being autistic. He was inspired to seek diagnosis following a question on Desert Island Discs.
Filmography
Short films
WriterThe Mascot A Supermarket Love Song Bunny An Almost Christmas StoryProducer
- ''The Swarm''
Film writer
The Scouting Book for Boys A Long Way Down War Book Wonder The Aeronauts Radioactive Dirt Music The Secret Garden Enola Holmes The Swimmers Enola Holmes 2 Joy Chork Enola Holmes 3Television
TV series| Year | Title | Writer | Executive Producer | Creator | Notes |
| 2007 | Shameless | Episode: "The Runaway" | |||
| 2007 | Coming Up | Episode: "The Spastic King" | |||
| 2007–2009 | Skins | 5 episodes | |||
| 2009 | Cast Offs | Also associate producer and co-producer | |||
| 2011 | Skins | Episode: "Chris" | |||
| 2011 | The Fades | ||||
| 2012 | Sinbad | Episode: "Kuji" | |||
| 2014 | Glue | Wrote 6 episodes | |||
| 2015 | Glue Online | ||||
| 2015 | The Last Panthers | ||||
| 2017 | Electric Dreams | Episode: "The Commuter" | |||
| 2019–2022 | His Dark Materials | Also developer and showrunner | |||
| 2020 | The Eddy | ||||
| 2020 | CripTales | Episode: "Hamish" |
Miniseries
| Year | Title | Writer | Executive Producer | Creator |
| 2010 | This Is England '86 | |||
| 2011 | This Is England '88 | |||
| 2015 | This Is England '90 | |||
| 2016 | National Treasure | |||
| 2018 | Kiri | |||
| 2019 | The Virtues | |||
| 2019 | The Accident | |||
| 2022 | Am I Being Unreasonable? | |||
| 2023 | Best Interests | |||
| 2025 | Toxic Town | |||
| 2025 | Adolescence | |||
| 2025 | The Hack | |||
| 2026 | Lord of the Flies |
TV movies
| Year | Title | Writer | Executive Producer |
| 2015 | Don't Take My Baby | ||
| 2021 | Help | ||
| 2022 | Then Barbara Met Alan |
Awards
Royal Television Society Awards| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | |
| 2011 | Best Drama Serial | This Is England '86 | Nomitated | |
| 2011 | Best Writer – Drama | This Is England '86 | Won | |
| 2012 | Best Drama Series | The Fades | Nomitated | |
| 2016 | Best Writer – Drama | This Is England '90 | Nomitated | |
| 2016 | Best Drama Series | This Is England '90 | Nomitated | |
| 2017 | Best Writer | National Treasure | Nomitated | |
| 2017 | Best Mini-Series | National Treasure | Won | |
| 2022 | Best Single Drama | Help | Won | |
| 2022 | Best Single Drama | Help | Won | |
| 2022 | Best Writer - Drama | Help | ||
| 2022 | Outstanding Contribution to British Television 2022 | Won | ||
| 2023 | Best Single Drama | Then Barbara Met Alan | ||
| 2023 | Best Comedy Drama | Am I Being Unreasonable? | ||
| 2023 | RTS Fellowship | Won | ||
| 2024 | Best Limited Series | Best Interests |
BAFTA Awards
| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | |
| 2012 | BAFTA Craft Awards | Best Writer | The Fades | Nomitated | |
| 2012 | BAFTA TV Awards | Best Drama Series | The Fades | Won | |
| 2012 | BAFTA TV Awards | Best Mini-Series | This is England '88 | Won | |
| 2016 | BAFTA TV Awards | Best Drama Series | The Last Panthers | Nomitated | |
| 2016 | BAFTA TV Awards | Best Single Drama | Don't Take My Baby | Won | |
| 2016 | BAFTA TV Awards | Best Mini-Series | This Is England '90 | Won | |
| 2017 | BAFTA TV Awards | Best Mini-Series | National Treasure | Won | |
| 2019 | BAFTA TV Awards | Best Mini-Series | Kiri | Nomitated | |
| 2020 | BAFTA TV Awards | Best Mini-Series | The Virtues | Nomitated | |
| 2020 | BAFTA Craft Awards | Writer: Drama | The Virtues | Nomitated | |
| 2021 | BAFTA Scotland | Best Television Scripted | Crip Tales | Nomitated | |
| 2022 | BAFTA Craft Awards | Best Writer: Drama | Help | ||
| 2022 | BAFTA TV Awards | Best Single Drama | Help | ||
| 2023 | BAFTA Film Awards | Outstanding British Film | The Swimmers | ||
| 2023 | BAFTA TV Awards | Best Scripted Comedy | Am I Being Unreasonable? | ||
| 2024 | BAFTA TV Awards | Best Limited Drama | Best Interests |
Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | |
| 2012 | Best Television Short-Form Drama | This is England '88 | Nomitated | |
| 2022 | Outstanding Contribution to Writing | Won | ||
| 2022 | Best Short Form TV Drama | Then Barbara Met Alan |
Broadcast Awards
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | |
| 2017 | Best Drama Series or Serial | This Is England '90 | Won | |
| 2019 | Best Drama Series or Serial | Kiri | Nomitated | |
| 2022 | Best Single Drama | Help | Won | |
| 2022 | Best Lockdown Programme | Help | ||
| 2022 | Best Single Drama | Then Barbara Met Alan | Won | |
| 2022 | Best Original Programme | Then Barbara Met Alan | ||
| 2025 | Best New Drama | Adolescence | ||
| 2025 | Best Original Programme | Adolescence |
Other awards
| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | |
| 2009 | London Film Festival Awards | Best British Newcomer | The Scouting Book for Boys | Won | |
| 2010 | Edinburgh Fringe Festival | Fringe First | Bunny | Won | |
| 2015 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Play | Let the Right One In | Nomitated | |
| 2016 | Jameson Empire Award | Best TV Series | This Is England '90 | Won | |
| 2017 | Biarritz International Festival of Audiovisual Programming | TV series and Serials: Screenplay | National Treasure | Won | |
| 2017 | Olivier Awards | Best New Play | Harry Potter and the Cursed Child | Won | |
| 2017 | Evening Standard Theatre Awards | Best Play | Harry Potter and the Cursed Child | Won | |
| 2018 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Harry Potter and the Cursed Child | Won | |
| 2018 | Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards | Best Adapted Screenplay | Wonder | Nomitated | |
| 2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Adaptation | A Christmas Carol | Won | |
| 2020 | Broadcasting Press Guild Awards | Best Writer | The Virtues | Nomitated | |
| 2020 | Broadcasting Press Guild Awards | Best Writer | His Dark Materials | Nomitated | |
| 2021 | Prix Italia | TV Performing Arts | Crip Tales | Won | |
| 2021 | Rose d'Or | Best Drama | Help | Won | |
| 2022 | Sandford St Martin Awards | Radio Times Readers' Award | Help | ||
| 2022 | Banff Rockie Award | Best Feature Length Film | Help | Won | |
| 2022 | Banff Rockie Award | Rockies Grand Jury Prize | Help | Won | |
| 2022 | Venice TV Awards | Best TV Film | Help | Won | |
| 2022 | Seoul International Drama Awards | Best TV Movie | Help | Won | |
| 2022 | International Emmy Awards | Best TV Movie / Mini Series | Help | Won | |
| 2022 | C21 Drama Awards | Best TV Movie | Help | ||
| 2023 | National Film and Television School | Honorary Fellowship | Won | ||
| 2023 | Banff Rockie Award | Best Feature Length Film | Then Barbara Met Alan | ||
| 2023 | Evening Standard Theatre Awards | Best Play | The Motive and the Cue | Won | |
| 2023 | WhatsOnStage Awards | Best New Play | The Motive and the Cue | ||
| 2024 | Banff Rockie Award | Best Limited Series | Best Interests | Won | |
| 2024 | Critics' Circle Theatre Awards | Best New Play | The Motive and the Cue | Won | |
| 2024 | Olivier Awards | Best New Play | The Motive and the Cue | ||
| 2025 | Gotham TV Awards | Breakthrough Limited Series | Adolescence | Won | |
| 2025 | The Astra Awards | Best Limited Series | Adolescence | Won | |
| 2025 | The Astra Awards | Best Writing in a Limited Series or TV Movie | Adolescence | Won | |
| 2025 | Edinburgh TV Awards | Best Drama | Adolescence | Won | |
| 2025 | TCA Awards | Program of the Year | Adolescence | ||
| 2025 | TCA Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries or Specials | Adolescence | Won | |
| 2025 | Emmy Awards | Limited or Anthology Series | Adolescence | Won | |
| 2025 | Emmy Awards | Outstanding Writing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie | Adolescence | Won | |
| 2025 | Seoul International Drama Awards | Best Miniseries | Adolescence | ||
| 2025 | Seoul International Drama Awards | Best Screenwriter | Adolescence | ||
| 2025 | Seoul International Drama Awards | Grand Prize | Adolescence | Won | |
| 2025 | National Television Awards | New Drama | Adolescence | Won | |
| 2025 | Sky Arts Awards | Best Television | Adolescence | Won | |
| 2025 | Rose d’Or | Drama | Adolescence | Won | |
| 2025 | Rose d’Or | The Golden Rose | Adolescence | Won | |
| 2025 | Film Independent Spirit Awards | Best New Scripted Series | Adolescence | ||
| 2025 | American Film Institute Awards | Top 10 Television Programs | Adolescence | Won | |
| 2025 | Critics Choice Awards | Best Limited Series | Adolescence | Won | |
| 2025 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Limited Series | Adolescence | Won | |
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