Jack Thorne facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jack Thorne FRSL
Thorne at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019
Born	(1978-12-06) 6 December 1978 (age 46) Bristol, England
Occupation	Playwright screenwriter producer
Years active	2004–present
Spouse(s)	Rachel Mason
Children	1

Jack Thorne, born on December 6, 1978, is a talented British writer and producer. He creates stories for plays, movies, and TV shows.

He loves hard science fiction and is famous for many popular works. These include the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and movies like Wonder (2017) and Enola Holmes (2020), plus its sequel (2022). He also wrote the TV series His Dark Materials (2019–2022).

Between 2010 and 2015, Jack worked with director Shane Meadows on three mini-series: This Is England '86, This Is England '88, and This Is England '90.

In 2023, his four-part mini-series Best Interests came out, starring Michael Sheen and Sharon Horgan. It won the Best Limited Series award at the Banff Rockie Awards.

In 2025, two more mini-series he wrote, Toxic Town and Adolescence, were released on Netflix. They received great reviews.

Early Life and School Days

Jack Thorne was born in Bristol, England, on December 6, 1978. He went to St Bartholomew's School in Newbury, Berkshire. In 1998, he started studying at Pembroke College, Cambridge. During his third year, he had to take a break from his studies because he wasn't feeling well. He later returned to finish his degree and graduated in 2002.

Jack Thorne's Creative Career

Writing for the Stage

Jack Thorne has written many plays for the theater. Some of his early works include When You Cure Me (2005) and Bunny (2010), which won an award at the Edinburgh Festival.

In 2013, he adapted the popular book and film Let The Right One In for the stage. It was performed in Scotland, London, and New York.

One of his most famous plays is Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. He wrote this play based on an original story by himself, J. K. Rowling, and John Tiffany. It has been a huge hit, playing in London's West End since 2016 and on Broadway since 2018.

He also adapted classic stories like A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens for the Old Vic in 2017. This play has been performed every year since.

More recently, in 2023, his play The Motive and the Cue opened at the National Theatre. It was directed by Sam Mendes. Also in 2023, he co-wrote Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a prequel play to the popular Netflix series.

His plays are published by Nick Hern Books.

Bringing Stories to Television

Jack Thorne has written for many TV shows. These include Skins and Shameless. He also helped create Cast Offs.

He worked with director Shane Meadows to co-write the mini-series This Is England '86, This Is England '88, This Is England '90, and The Virtues.

In 2012, he won BAFTA awards for his drama series The Fades and the mini-series This Is England '88. His teen drama Glue premiered in 2014.

In 2016, his drama Don't Take My Baby won a BAFTA for Best Single Drama. His Channel 4 drama National Treasure won the BAFTA for Best Mini-Series in 2017.

Jack Thorne adapted Philip Pullman's famous trilogy His Dark Materials for BBC One, which aired from 2019 to 2022. He also wrote for the Netflix series The Eddy.

In 2021, he wrote the TV film Help. This film showed the challenges faced by disabled people and their carers during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. It won Best Drama at the 2021 Rose d'Or Awards.

In 2022, he co-wrote Then Barbara Met Alan. This true story was about Barbara Lisicki and Alan Holdsworth, who started DAN (Disabled People's Direct Action Network). The film showed their fight against unfair treatment and how they helped pass the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

In 2023, it was announced that Jack Thorne would write a TV adaptation of Lord of the Flies. He also wrote Toxic Town, a series about a real-life toxic waste issue. In 2025, his series The Hack aired on ITV and STV.

Movies You Might Know

Jack Thorne's first film, The Scouting Book for Boys, came out in 2009. It won him the Best Newcomer award at the London Film Festival.

He co-wrote the script for the movie Wonder (2017), which starred Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson. He also worked on Disney's live-action adaptation of Pinocchio.

In 2019, he co-wrote The Aeronauts for Amazon Studios. It starred Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne. This movie became one of the most-watched films on Amazon Prime.

In 2020, three more films he wrote were released: Radioactive, a story about Marie Curie; The Secret Garden, based on the classic novel; and Enola Holmes, starring Millie Bobby Brown. He also wrote the sequel to Enola Holmes, which was released in 2022.

In 2025, he wrote a story treatment for the movie Tron: Ares.

Standing Up for Others: Jack's Advocacy Work

Jack Thorne is a strong supporter of the disabled community in the arts. When he was 20, he developed a condition that made him allergic to heat, causing him a lot of pain. This experience helped him understand what it means to be a disabled person. He found a welcoming community with the Graeae Theatre Company, which he calls the "National Theatre of disability."

Since then, he has written many dramas that feature disabled characters and stories, such as Cast Offs, The Solid Life of Sugar Water, Don't Take My Baby, CripTales, and Then Barbara Met Alan. He is now a patron of the Graeae Theatre Company.

In 2021, Jack Thorne gave an important speech at the Edinburgh TV Festival. He talked about how TV can help people understand each other better, but also how it has not shown enough disabled people. He explained that the TV industry needs to do more to include disabled artists, both in front of and behind the camera.

Along with Genevieve Barr and Katie Player, Jack started a group called Underlying Health Condition. This group works to make sure disabled voices are heard in the TV industry.

This led to The TV Access Project (TAP), which launched in 2021. Ten of the UK's biggest broadcasters have promised to fully include Deaf, Disabled, and/or Neurodivergent talent by 2030. TAP created guidelines called the 5As (Anticipate, Ask, Assess, Adjust, Advocate) to help achieve this.

By 2024, TAP had already made great progress. They launched TAPStars to support new disabled talent and helped make sure access costs are covered for productions. In August 2024, all 10 TAP members announced they would not work with studios that had not completed TAP's accessibility audit by August 2025. This shows their strong commitment to making the industry more inclusive.

A Peek into Jack's Life

Jack Thorne is married to Rachel Mason. They have a son named Elliott. Their journey to have a child inspired them to create the film Joy. Rachel's sister, Cath, is married to the comedian Frank Skinner.

In 2022, Jack Thorne learned he was autistic. He was inspired to seek a diagnosis after a question on a radio show called Desert Island Discs.

Jack Thorne's Works

Short Films

Writer

• The Mascot (2005)
• A Supermarket Love Song (2006)
• Bunny (2018)
• An Almost Christmas Story (2024)

Producer

• The Swarm (2011)

Movies He Wrote

• The Scouting Book for Boys (2009)
• A Long Way Down (2014)
• War Book (2014)
• Wonder (2017)
• The Aeronauts (2019) (Also producer)
• Radioactive (2019)
• Dirt Music (2019)
• The Secret Garden (2020)
• Enola Holmes (2020)
• The Swimmers (2022)
• Enola Holmes 2 (2022)
• Joy (2024)
• Tron: Ares (2025) (uncredited)
• Chork (2026)
• Enola Holmes 3 (TBA)

TV Shows and Series

TV Miniseries

TV Movies

Awards and Recognitions

Royal Television Society Awards

BAFTA Awards

Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards

Broadcast Awards

Other awards

See also

• List of British playwrights