Jack Thorne Debuts First TV Love Story 'Falling'
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- Jack Thorne launches 'Falling' as his first love story for TV, inspired by a real news article about a nun and priest falling in love, with Keeley Hawes as the nun and Paapa Essiedu as the priest
- The series mirrors Thorne's own life — he met his wife, comedy agent Rachel Mason, on a train to the Cornwall film festival, and the 1am messaging that began during his Old Vic 24-Hour Plays gala kick-started their relationship
- Thorne co-created Netflix's 'Adolescence,' viewed by 140 million people, and wrote the role of Eddie — the boy's broken father — specifically for Stephen Graham, his six-time collaborator
- The ensemble cast includes Niamh Cusack, Jason Watkins, Adrian Scarborough, and deaf actor Sophie Stone, whose sign-language scenes opposite Essiedu's priest are singled out as the show's most moving moments
- Thorne has stepped back from TV work and is not currently under commission to any domestic broadcasters, though he retains confidential Netflix projects including co-writing Sam Mendes's secret four-film Beatles series
- As president of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain, Thorne is actively campaigning against government AI/copyright policy, warning the 5% of the economy tied to creative industries will shrink without a plan, and citing Michaela Coel's yard-theatre-to-hit-series trajectory as evidence the talent pipeline requires sustained producer investment
Why it matters: Thorne's profile doubles as an industry warning: the Michaela Coel runway — Yard theatre to Edinburgh to the National Theatre to 'I May Destroy You' — only survives if broadcasters invest at every step, not just in finished scripts. With Thorne himself stepping back from domestic commissions, his AI/copyright fight with the science secretary could shape protections for the creative industries' 5% of GDP.
