Bafta-winning screenwriter Jack Thorne is working on a new BBC drama about the fight for disabled civil rights in Britain.
Thorne is best known for West End show Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and more recently wrote Netflix jazz drama The Eddy and dramatised Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials for the BBC.
Now he is writing Independence Day? How Disabled Rights Were Won, a working title for the one-off programme, with Genevieve Barr, a deaf actress and writer.
The hour-long drama marks the 25th anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act and will tell the story of Barbara Lisicki and Alan Holdsworth, two disabled performers.
They met at a gig in 1989, fell in love and had a child, before becoming the driving force behind the Direct Action Network (DAN), which helped bring in better civil rights for disabled people in Britain.
The couple’s "P**s on Pity" protest slogan brought an end to disenfranchising charity events and re-framed the debate around disability rights.
DAN shut down cinemas, restaurants, stations and the London underground with pickets and their co-ordinated attempts to handcuff their wheelchairs to buses brought Westminster to a standstill.
Thorne said: "I can't tell you how exciting it's been working with the brilliant Genevieve Barr on this script.
"DAN changed the world through their actions, and they have never been properly celebrated for it. In this film we want to do that in a way that lauds their true punk spirit."
Barr added: "It is humbling to be part of the extraordinary team with Jack, and be able to bring this story to life.
"DAN created opportunities and rights for so many of us disabled and to be able to say thank you in this creative way is really special."
Thorne has won Baftas for shows including Channel 4 drama National Treasure, which starred Robbie Coltrane and Julie Walters, and This is England ’90, which he wrote with Shane Meadows.
Barr’s recent television roles include The Accident on Channel 4 and BBC drama Press.
