Jack Thorne

Set in a fictional care home in Liverpool, Help tells the poignant story of the relationship between a young care worker (Comer) and a patient (Graham), whose lives are irrevocably changed by the coronavirus pandemic in spring 2020.

Jodie Comer plays Sarah, a smart young woman who has never felt like she fitted in at school or at work. Despite her family telling her she’d never amount to anything, she finds her calling unexpectedly as a carer at Bright Sky Homes and can effortlessly form special connections with residents.

To mark the passing of the Disability Discrimination Act, the film will tell the true story of the activists who waged an unstoppable campaign for disabled civil rights in Britain.

Madeley said: “To have the opportunity to play such an incredibly powerful character and tell such an important story is honestly a dream, especially within the context of disabled, deaf and neuro-diverse history.

From RTS Award-winning writer Jack Thorne (His Dark Materials), Help tells the moving story of a young worker in a fictional Liverpool care home, Sarah (Comer), and her patient Tony (Graham), whose lives are torn apart by the coronavirus pandemic.

Graham said: “Jack is one of the greatest and most truthful writers of our generation and in Help he has crafted a profoundly important piece of social realism.

Produced by Dragon Film and TV and One Shoe Films, the drama tells the exceptional true story of the bold campaign of direct action that led to the victory of disabled civil rights in Britain.

The story is told through the eyes of Barbara Lisicki and Alan Holdsworth, two cabaret performers with disabilities who met at a concert in 1989 and soon fell in love and had a baby.

They became big advocates and the driving force behind the Direct Action Network (DAN), a national group campaigning for change through non-violent direct action.

That was the main takeaway from an RTS question and answer session following an exclusive screening of the final episode of season one.

All five panellists emphasised how working as a team was fundamental to the show, described by one reviewer as “a riveting realisation” of Pullman’s world.

“We did a lot of talking. It’s not me alone at my desk but a lot of people working together,” explained Jack Thorne who wrote the script for His Dark Materials.

‘Rachel doesn’t let me cycle,” laughs writer Jack Thorne as I am leaving his north London home following our interview. Rachel is his wife, a comedy agent and keen cyclist herself, who laughs back: “Yes, he’d just be cycling along and have a script idea and that would be that.”

The four-part series will complete a trilogy of dramas created for Channel 4, alongside Kiri and National Treasure.

Written by RTS-award winning screenwriter Jack Thorne, The Accident follows the aftermath of a catastrophic explosion on a construction site in a Welsh town. As the community is torn apart by grief and anger, they search for someone to blame.

Best Interests tells the story of two parents who must make a life-changing decision that no one could ever want to make.

Andrew and Nicci’s daughter, Marnie, suffers from a life-threatening condition to the extent that medical staff have suggested that it would be in her best interests to be allowed to die to end any suffering.

Andrew and Nicci struggle to contemplate the decision and launch a legal battle to prevent their daughter’s death.

The new shows are part of a deliberate drive by the channel to offer distinctive content, in a bid to beat competition from streaming services and other broadcasters.

At the launch of the new slate, Ian Katz, the channel’s Director of Programming, said he wants to focus on “entertaining, mischievous and innovative shows about the big issues and arguments in Britain today.”

He added: “Many of the shows [launching in 2019] are not ones that the global digital giants, even as they plough billions into new content, would be remotely interested in making.”

Now's a great time to get into writing for TV. There have never been more opportunities for scripted programming. To stand out from the crowd, an idea should seem original and distinctive.

While the breadth of programming has increased, the traditional formats have remained dominant. Your writing should fit the standard models for a mini-series, a serial or an episodic series; 30 minutes for comedy, 60 minutes for drama.