Jack Thorne, screenwriter

Desert Island Discs

Jack Thorne is a writer who has enjoyed great success with his scripts for the stage, cinema and television, winning five BAFTA awards for his TV work.

His theatre credits include the international hit play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which has won major awards in London and New York. For television, his recent successes include his adaptation of His Dark Materials, from the books by Philip Pullman, and The Virtues, co-written with Shane Meadows, and starring Stephen Graham.

Jack was born in Bristol in 1978. His mother was a care worker, and her experiences partly inspired his 2021 TV drama Help, set in a care home during the pandemic.

As a student at Cambridge University, Jack became involved in student drama, but had to halt his studies for a year when he became seriously ill with cholinergic urticaria, which he describes as an extreme form of ‘prickly heat... which feels like you’re burning from the inside.’ While he enjoys better health now, this experience informed his writing, and he has campaigned for more opportunities and better representation for disabled people, on both sides of the camera. In 2021 he gave the MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh Television Festival, in which he argued that TV has failed disabled people.

DISC ONE: Common People (At Glastonbury 1995) by Pulp DISC TWO: Blah Blah Café by Jean-Michel Jarre DISC THREE: The Red Flag by Billy Bragg DISC FOUR: Spasticus Autisticus by John Kelly and the Graeae Theatre Company DISC FIVE: Lippy Kids by Elbow DISC SIX: 54-46 That’s My Number by Toots and the Maytals DISC SEVEN: Skeleton Key by Audrey Nugent DISC EIGHT: End credit music from the film E.T. by John Williams

BOOK CHOICE: Miller Plays: 1 by Arthur Miller LUXURY ITEM: TV with Channel 4 archive only CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Skeleton Key by Audrey Nugent

Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Sarah Taylor