Thorne's plays for stage include When You Cure Me (Bush Theatre, 2005 ), Fanny and Faggot (Finborough Theatre and tour 2007), Stacy (Arcola Theatre and Trafalgar Studios, 2007), Burying Your Brother In The Pavement (Royal National Theatre Connections Festival 2008 ), 2 May 1997 (Bush Theatre 2009) and Bunny (Underbelly and tour 2010) which won a Fringe First at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival. His plays are published by Nick Hern Books.

Thorne has written for the TV shows Skins and Shameless. He co-created Cast-offs (nominated Royal Television Society Best Drama series 2010 ), and has co-written This Is England '86 with Shane Meadows . In August 2010 BBC 3 announced Thorne will be writing a supernatural 6x60 drama for the channel called 'Touch'

Thorne has written four plays for radio; an adaptation of When You Cure Me (radio 3, 2006 ), Left At the Angel (radio 4, 2007 ), an adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (co-written with Alex Bulmer, radio 4, 2009) and People Snogging In Public Places (radio 3, 2009). The latter won him the Sony Radio Academy Awards Gold for Best Drama 2010 . The judges described it "as a wonderfully written and performed, highly original piece of radio drama in which the production perfectly mirrored the subject. Painful and funny, it was a bold exciting listen."

Thorne's first film The Scouting Book For Boys was released in 2009, it won him Best Newcomer at the London Film Festival. The jury said: “Jack Thorne is a poetic writer with an end-of-the-world imagination and a real gift for story-telling. Thorne’s substantial authorship is revealed in the unique voices of the film’s characters and the rich, soulful and playful layering of the story.”

Thorne is represented by Rachel Holroyd, Mel Kenyon and Jenne Casarotto at Casarotto Ramsay