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BAFTA-winning screenwriter and playwright Jack Thorne has revealed he sought advice and was subsequently diagnosed with autism after a listener got in touch about his interview on Desert Island Discs.

Thorne, whose work includes the acclaimed This Is England series, pandemic drama Help, and The Virtues – all starring Stephen Graham – as well as His Dark Materials, the Enola Holmes films and the script for the Harry Potter And The Cursed Child theatre production, appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme in December 2021.

Writing on Twitter, the 44-year-old told his followers he was diagnosed just before Christmas, following a “long journey” that started with a listener reaching out about his interview with host Lauren Laverne.

The listener asked if he had considered whether he might be on the autistic spectrum, he said.

“Some personal news: just before Christmas I was diagnosed autistic,” he wrote. “A long journey but one I’m very very happy to have gone on. Makes sense of stuff before, hopefully will help with stuff to come. I don’t understand it all yet, but I’m getting there.

“Bizarrely it started with doing Desert Island Discs – a very kind listener reached out and asked whether I’d considered the idea I might be autistic. My lovely agent, who got the note, thought there might be truth to it. My wife did too. So I started digging in.

“It’s a complicated process, getting diagnosed, but I found lots of kindness along the way. I’m very very very pleased to have done it, and I’m very very very pleased to know this about myself.”

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In his Desert Island Discs interview, while choosing eight songs or recordings he would choose to be cast away with, Thorne told Laverne how he liked working on more than one project at a time as “I stop sleeping if I’m working on one project because I become obsessed with it, and not in a healthy way… sometimes having something to swap to – that you go, oh, I can still do this, I’m not terrible, I can sleep, I can turn my brain off – is very good”.

When asked about his time studying at the University of Cambridge, he told how he felt like he didn’t fit in well with other students.

“I’m really awkward and I don’t quite know how other people work and I’m constantly sort of on the outside, looking at them and going, I understand how you’re talking, I understand why you’re talking, but I don’t quite know how to get involved in the conversation.”

Thorne, who delivered the MacTaggart lecture at the 2021 Edinburgh TV Festival, calling for the industry to do more for disabled people, also spoke about being diagnosed with the skin condition cholinergic urticaria, or chronic hives – which can be caused by stress – at the age of 20.

And speaking about his inspiration for Help, he said it came from reading about COVID-19 devastating care homes in a local newspaper.

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Man arrested for alleged sexual assault ‘on set of EastEnders’

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Man arrested for alleged sexual assault 'on set of EastEnders'

A man has been arrested on suspicion of assault and sexual assault – which reportedly took place on the set of EastEnders.

The alleged incident happened on the set of the BBC soap at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, according to The Sun newspaper.

Hertfordshire Police confirmed a man in his 50s was arrested after the report in Eldon Avenue, Borehamwood, on 7 May.

The man is accused of sexual assault and common assault in relation to two victims, the force said.

The suspect is on bail while inquiries continue, police added.

EastEnders said in a statement: “While we would never comment on individuals, EastEnders has on-site security and well-established procedures in place to safeguard the safety and welfare of everyone who works on the show.”

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BST Hyde Park’s final day cancelled as Jeff Lynne’s ELO pulls out of headline slot

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BST Hyde Park's final day cancelled as Jeff Lynne's ELO pulls out of headline slot

BST Hyde Park festival has cancelled its final night after Jeff Lynne’s Electric Light Orchestra pulled out of the headline slot.

Lynne, 77, was due to play alongside his band on Sunday but has been forced to withdraw from the event following a “systemic infection”.

The London show was supposed to be a “final goodbye” from ELO following their farewell US tour.

Organisers said on Saturday that Lynne was “heartbroken” at being unable to perform.

A statement read: “Jeff has been battling a systemic infection and is currently in the care of a team of doctors who have advised him that performing is simply not possible at this time nor will he be able to reschedule.

“The legacy of the band and his longtime fans are foremost in Jeff’s mind today – and while he is so sorry that he cannot perform, he knows that he must focus on his health and rehabilitation at this time.”

They later confirmed the whole of Sunday’s event would be cancelled.

“Ticket holders will be refunded and contacted directly by their ticket agent with further details,” another statement said.

Stevie Wonder played the festival on Saturday – now its final event of 2025.

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US rock band The Doobie Brothers and blues rock singer Steve Winwood were among those who had been due to perform to before ELO’s headline performance.

The cancellation comes after the band, best known for their hit Mr Blue Sky, pulled out of a performance due to take place at Manchester’s Co-Op Live Arena on Thursday.

ELO was formed in Birmingham in 1970 by Lynne, multi-instrumentalist Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan.

They first split in 1986, before frontman Lynne resurrected the band in 2014.

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Donald Trump threatens to revoke Rosie O’Donnell’s US citizenship

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Donald Trump threatens to revoke Rosie O'Donnell's US citizenship

Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.

In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”

He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.

O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.

“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.

“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”

Rosie O'Donnell arrives at the ELLE Women in Hollywood celebration on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
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Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP

O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.

She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.

O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.

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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.

But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.

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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.

“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.

“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”

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