EXCLUSIVE: Jack Thorne may be riding high on a British drama success story, but he has warned that shows like Adolescence could die out unless the industry solves a “devastating” funding crisis.
In an interview with Deadline, Thorne warned that Netflix hit Adolescence is built on storytelling traditions that are at risk of crumbling because of UK broadcaster budget cuts, international financing issues, and rampant inflation.
The prolific British writer, whose credits include His Dark Materials and stage show Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, argued that lower-budget, distinctively British series need to be properly funded to promote the growth of new writing talent.
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“If Channel 4 and the BBC are denied the opportunity to make these shows, that’s devastating,” he said. “The problem of international finance and what that’s done is incredibly current and leading to a lot of my friends and emerging writers being denied the opportunity to tell stories.”
Thorne, who credits Skins with propelling him into the industry, continued: “If they are denied the opportunity to tell those stories, then the whole culture starts to crumble, and shows like Adolescence and Toxic Town are no longer possible. Netflix making these shows is exciting, but it’s not everything.”
Thorne said he fears for the next generation of writers who are being dissuaded from developing stories about their experiences and interests. Instead, he said the industry is “drowning in crime.”
He called on the UK government to help the industry avoid a collapse in local storytelling by introducing enhanced tax breaks and a streamer levy. The latter idea — which would effectively involve streamers like Netflix contributing a chunk of their British revenue to a content fund — has gained traction after Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky advocated for the proposal.
UK ministers are receptive to the concerns, but are cautious about making knee-jerk changes that could upset the country’s successful screen ecology. Thorne agreed that change should be introduced “carefully,” with funding incentives opened up to market failure shows and emerging talent.
“The thing would be to not exclude Netflix from that process. It’s not about going, ‘We’re going to tax you.’ It’s about going, ‘We would love you to contribute to a scheme that is keeping our television ecology going.’ It’s about fighting to build something together,” he added.
The writer revealed that Adolescence was originally developed with Amazon Prime Video before the series switched to Netflix, where it shot to the top of the streamer’s top 10 chart globally with 24.3M views. After five days in the UK, it has amassed 4.7M viewers, putting it ahead of big 2024 hits, including Bridgerton and Baby Reindeer, according to official Barb figures from overnights.tv.
Thorne said the series was not pitched to a UK broadcaster because it would likely have been prohibitively expensive. “We would have needed international finance to make it work, and with the market the way is, that would have been very difficult to do,” he added.
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