Jack Thorne: writing Cast-Offs

On the WGGB website, Jack Thorne explains how he came to write Cast-Offs, an upcoming drama series for Channel 4.

Cast-Offs was commissioned by the wonderful Alison Walsh at Channel 4, partially as a result of frustration with what she saw as generic disability programming. Disabled people on TV were allowed to be one of two things: acerbic and sharp and oh so very witty or, you know, tragic and heroic and kind of a bit sad.

With Cast-Offs we’d try and be funny and we’d try and tell some truthful stories. What we wouldn’t do – and couldn’t do – is attempt to tell ‘the truth’ about what disability is. We’d try and be for disability programming what thirtysomething was for thirtysomethings – far from representative, just a teller of decent stories.

(Photo: Dan Outram)