Forget Threads – Adolescence creator already made one of the best horror shows ever
The show boasts a major Game of Thrones star in the cast.
The news that the producers of Adolescence are working on an adaptation of Threads has set the internet alight, like a nuclear bomb igniting the Yorkshire countryside.
Yet as exciting, and frankly distressing, as the idea of a new version of Threads – a harrowing 1984 film about a young couple struggling to survive in the irradiated ruins of Sheffield following nuclear war – may be, we’ve got some good news for you.
You don’t have to wait for the nightmares to begin because The Adolescence co-creator Jack Thorne has already made one of the best horror shows of all time: The Fades.
If you missed it The Fades was a BBC drama series that followed Paul Roberts (Iain De Caestecker), a young man who’s plagued by dreams of Armageddon and cursed with the ability to see the spirits of the recently deceased, known as Fades.
Despite only running for one series in 2011 the show was a critical darling earning an impressive 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, and it even scooped a Bafta for best drama series in 2012.
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The show also featured some of the UK’s top emerging talent from the time – including big names like Daniel Kaluuya, Tom Ellis, and Natalie Dormer.
Jack Thorne co-created the hit Netflix drama Adolescence with Stephen Graham (Picture: Courtesy of Netflix) Threads is widely considered one of the most disturbing films ever made (Picture: BBC)Still, while the show was a stellar nursery for future UK stars, the thing that made The Fades so gripping was most certainly Thorne’s writing which was praised for being unnerving and funny.
Sadly, The Fades was cancelled due to low viewership and banished to televisual purgatory, but the show maintains a small but healthy fandom.
‘I get so many fans coming up to me at Comic-Cons,’ Dormer told Den of Geek in 2018, ‘who bemoan that The Fades never got picked up for a second season.’
As for Threads, it’s being adapted into a drama series by Sheffield-based production company, Warp Films who, aside from Adolescence, are known for hit series such as This Is England and The Virtues.
The best horror series according to Rotten TomatoesThe following ranking was curated by Rotten Tomato staff and takes into consideration the Tomatometer score, the rankings of other ‘reputable best of lists’, and their own ‘editorial discretion’.
American Horror Story (77%) Stranger Things (91%) The Walking Dead (79%) The Twilight Zone (92%) Supernatural (93%) Twin Peaks (78%) Hannibal (93%) Buffy The Vampire Slayer (85%) The Haunting Of Hill House (93%) True Blood (68%) The Fades had been described as a genuinely ‘unnerving’ horror show (Provider: BBC)In a statement, Warp Films CCO and executive producer Emily Feller said Threads is a ‘deeply impactful story’ that ‘feels more relevant than ever.’
‘This adaptation will allow us to uncover fresh interpretations in light of today’s world,’ Feller continued. ‘We imagine highlighting how resilience and connection can offer hope even in the most challenging of times.’
While Thorne has worked on other Warp projects including all three series of This Is England and The Virtues, he’s unlikely to be able to lend a hand on Threads.
The writer is currently working on a small screen adaptation of Lord of the Flies, and a dramatisation of the News of the World’s phone hacking scandal called The Hack.
You can catch up on The Fades and Threads on BBC iPlayer now.
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