Prior to filming, David Morrissey commented on how he became involved with the role: "I was doing a film in New Zealand, on my own, in winter. I really needed a book. I stumbled across a Thorne novel, liked it, and then I looked up Mark online and found a question-and-answer session where he said that if his books ever made it to the screen, he'd like me to play the lead. I thought, that's a good start"
Part of a two-night murder mystery TV show, the other one called Thorne: Scaredycat.
Following Thorne: Sleepyhead (2010) and Thorne: Scaredycat (2010), Mark Billingham expressed a desire to film all ten Thorne novels. Likewise, David Morrissey confirmed in February 2011 that a second series had gone into production. However, in a newsletter issued to members of his mailing list in December 2012, Billingham stated that Morrissey's role in The Walking Dead (2010) had suspended plans for the Thorne series. To date, no further episodes of Thorne have been produced.
Although directly adapted from Mark Billingham's novels, there are some notable differences between it and this television version. Brigstocke (Lorraine Ashbourne)'s gender has been changed. Dave Holland (O-T Fagbenle)'s ethnicity has been changed. And Phil Hendricks (Aidan Gillen) is portrayed as a short, partly tattooed Irishman with a full head of hair--not the the tall, bald, heavily pierced, heavily tattooed Mancunian described in the novels. Not to mention that Thorne (David Morrissey) himself is now 6.2 feet and of average build, instead of the 5.6 to 5.7 feet of stocky build. Both Anne Coburn Natascha McElhone and Jeremy Bishop Stephen Campbell Moore are older than Thorne in the novel, and contemporaries, having attended university together.
O-T Fagbenle (Dave Holland) & Lorraine Ashbourne (Ruth Brigstocke) also worked together on The Interceptor (2015) as Ash & Valerie respectively.