Jack Thorne Expands With Falling, His First TV Love Story
jack thorne has turned to new territory with Falling, his first television love story. The series grew out of a news article about a nun and a priest falling in love, and he said, "I just couldn’t stop thinking about that notion of love at first sight."
Keeley Hawes and Paapa Essiedu
Keeley Hawes plays the nun and Paapa Essiedu plays the priest, giving the premise two recognizable leads rather than a broad ensemble. Thorne’s move matters because it comes from a writer who has spent years jumping between television, film and stage, but not this kind of romance on TV.
Adolescence, which Thorne co-created, has been viewed by 140 million people and counting. He also co-created His Dark Materials, Lord of the Flies and Enola Holmes, and wrote Harry Potter and the Cursed Child for the stage, so Falling is not a career reset; it is a change in register from a writer already operating at scale.
George Faber and old habits
George Faber, whom Thorne called his "fairy godmother," has been part of the broader orbit around the project. That collaboration sits alongside a private working style Thorne has described before: after leaving Cambridge, he said, "I had some friends in the Luton Labour party I really liked and went to Labour party meetings – but the rest of the time I would watch TV and sleep."
That route through the industry helps explain why Falling feels like a deliberate shift rather than a one-off flirtation with a new genre. Thorne has already drawn on family experience for Joy and is currently co-writing Sam Mendes’s four-film series about the Beatles, so the new show adds another lane without displacing the rest of his workload.
Sam Mendes and the next lane
Thorne said of the Beatles project, "I’m not allowed to talk about that," which is the cleanest sign that his schedule is still packed beyond Falling. He is also 47, old enough to be past the novelty of being busy and still young enough to keep making sharp left turns like this one.
For viewers, the practical takeaway is simple: Falling is the one project in Thorne’s lineup that changes the shape of his TV work, because it takes him into romantic drama for the first time. If the series lands, it could widen the lane for a writer already trusted with high-volume, high-profile material.
