Hot Shots 2025: Thara Popoola

Thara Popoola makes the scriptwriting career ladder look easy. The wunderkid bounced from the 4Screenwriting course to the writers’ room for Sex Education, to writing the Netflix show’s fourth-series finale, to garnering credits on Channel 4’s Queenie and the BBC’s Dreaming Whilst Black and Black Ops.

Tobi Olujinmi, founder of production company Hill 5.14, says: “It’s no wonder that Thara has already written on some of the most beloved British shows. When her agent sent us a spec script, Thara’s characters leaped o the page. She is a bold and talented writer who we are fortunate to have on our slate.”

In addition to Hill 5.14, Popoola has a prolific slate of original projects in development with Kudos, Double Dutch, Warp Films and BBC Studios. Madeline Addy, an executive producer at BBC Studios, praises Popoola’s “mindblowingly fresh and distinct voice”.

“Her writing is always steeped in searing authenticity, bold truths followed by tonnes of humour and pathos. This is precisely why anyone who reads her work and meets her is instantly compelled to hire her,” Addy says.

For a taster of Popoola’s talent, her comedy short Jobless (which earned a Broadcast Digital Award nomination) is on BBC iPlayer.

Yet there’s more to Popoola than scriptwriting. Her commitment to community led her to co-found Black Women in Scripted, a network of more than 350 black women and non-binary people in the film and TV industry.