I think more and more people became aware that social media was starting to feel like a more toxic space. And, I mean - quite a lot of incidents of people getting very, very angry about all kinds of things and attacking people.

What happens often is the script is written and once the director comes on board you have lots of conversations and it mutates again.

My theory is that we used to have several personalities, and now we're encouraged to have one online.

I actually had that conversation with [Channel 4 Chief Creative Officer] Jay Hunt. We were at a bit of a crisis point. I'd written a totally different script - about war, basically - that got rejected at the last minute for various reasons. The whole of the series was in doubt. I said, "Well, there is one other idea ["National Anthem"]."

In the U.K. I'm probably better known as a comedy writer - or certainly that's my background is in writing comedy.

When you look at things like social media, that's an immensely powerful tool that I'm all in favor of. I think it's amazing. It's a powerful tool, and it's one that we're, as a species, still grappling with learning to use. It's like we've grown an extra tail and we inadvertently lash out and knock over all of the furniture.

I'm not some anti-technology person. I think it's often how people would assume that if they don't know me.