Was Adolescence’s Jack Thorne diagnosed with Autism after an interview?(Photo Credit –Wikimedia)
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Jack Thorne, the creative force behind Adolescence, had no idea a simple radio interview would change his life and yet, that’s exactly what happened when a listener reached out with a striking observation, one that would ultimately lead to his autism diagnosis.
Thorne, while growing up in the UK, was surrounded by activism. His father, a trade union organizer, and his mother, a teacher-turned-caregiver, often brought him along to protests and rallies. But despite being part of these bustling, passionate environments, he always felt like an outsider, never quite fitting in and never quite grasping the unwritten rules of social interaction.
In Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne’s four episode Netflix series ADOLESCENCE a 13-year old gets arrested for the murder of a classmate. Each episode was shot in one continuous take. Currently 100% fresh based on 14 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. pic.twitter.com/3E3WcCG1Tl
Thorne’s struggles weren’t exactly dramatic as he was not bullied or ostracized. Instead, he was simply there as the least popular member of his friend group and the kid who wanted to be involved but never fully understood how.
It was then years later, while sharing these childhood reflections on Desert Island Discs in 2022, Thorne unknowingly set off a chain reaction.
While Thorne discussed his childhood experiences, a listener picked up on the minute details he provided and wrote directly to his agent, saying that they thought he might be autistic.
The comment struck a nerve and Thorne called his agent to expect reassurance. Instead, she agreed. Surprised, he turned to his wife, Rachel, only to hear the same confirmation.
As he told The Mirror US, “Someone wrote to my agent afterwards saying, ‘I think Jack is autistic’ so I phoned my agent and said, ‘Do you think there’s any truth to it?’ And she said, ‘Well, yeah’ and I was like really,” he told BBC News. “Then I went downstairs to my wife and said, ‘Do you think there’s any truth in this?’ and she was like ‘Yes, yes’ and so I started pursuing it and it took a while, but eventually I got this diagnosis.”
What followed was a journey toward a diagnosis that, in his words, finally “made sense” of so much. The 46-year-old, while he reflected about his younger years during an interview with The Times, said, “That’s where my autism diagnosis has helped me a lot because I was the kid instinctively on the outside who tried to make friends but didn’t really understand how to get involved in that conversation.”
He added, “There were a lot of those experiences of just not quite having the dynamics right. I wasn’t particularly bullied. I was sort of the least popular member of a group of boys.”
Meanwhile, Adolescence, his latest Netflix project, is making waves. The gripping drama follows 13-year-old Jamie Miller, arrested under suspicion of murdering a female classmate. Its intense storytelling and raw emotion have won over critics, further cementing Thorne’s reputation as a masterful writer.
Stephen Graham and Ashley Walters star in ADOLESCENCE. The story of a 13 year old boy accused of murder and a town left asking – how could this happen?
