Lord of the Flies review: Jack Thorne's BBC adaptation is a glorious reminder of the novel's power

If I say Lord of the Flies, most of you will think of school. I certainly do.

The book is a staple on the English Literature GCSE syllabus, meaning many find their first experience of the story there.

Personally, I was in a school production of it. I played one of the twins, Eric, despite not having a twin. I was told that I had a "generic face", meaning there would be plenty of other potential cast members who could be matched up with me.

Putting that aside – given that it's probably something I should deal with in my own time – there's a reason why the story is so widely read and performed on stage in schools, but it also means that many may bristle at the idea of watching it on TV on a Sunday night. Dissecting every sentence of a book isn't always the best way to find enjoyment, even if it makes sense from an academic standpoint.

My hope is that viewers will put any reticence they have towards approaching the story again to one side, and tune into this four-part drama – the first ever TV adaptation of William Golding's novel. If they do, they will not only find a compelling piece of television in its own right, but be reminded of why the novel is so iconic in the first place.

For those who don't know the story, Lord of the Flies takes place in the 1950s, in the midst of a fictional war clearly inspired by the very real geopolitical tensions of the time, and the prevailing memory of the Second World War.

A group of children of varying ages are on a plane, seemingly being evacuated from England, when it crashes on an unknown tropical island, leaving the pilot dead.

Left alone, the children decide they need to appoint a leader. That ends up being Ralph, a generally well-intentioned, confident boy from a military background. He is guided by another boy, an intellectual who shares that he was previously bullied, and given the nickname Piggy. To his annoyance, the name catches on with this new group, too.

While Ralph is full of good intentions, he faces repeated challenges to his rule from Jack, the leader of a choir of boys. At first, he convinces Jack to appoint him as head of the hunters, to find food on the island. Then, he wishes to be in charge of keeping a signal fire going, to alert passing ships to their situation, and eventually get them saved.

As some of the others grow disillusioned with Ralph and his insistence on rules, Jack's popularity, and power, grows – leading, eventually, to chaos and tragedy descending.

On one level, it's surprising how few on-screen adaptations there have been of Lord of the Flies – one American film, one Filipino film, one British film, and now this series. On another level, it's not surprising at all.

Making a film or series with a cast almost entirely made up of children is difficult enough, but putting them all in a tropical island setting is an almost absurd ask.

It should therefore be noted right up top just how impressive this production is from a technical standpoint, meaning huge props should go to director Marc Munden.

Not just because he has managed to wrangle such a production together at all, in a stunning Malaysian location, but because he has also made this a truly visually distinct work. The use of colour, the choice of shots and the frenetic energy of many sequences are all slightly hypnotic, lending it a dream-like yet disconcerting edge.

There is a real sense of innovation on display here, buoyed by the addition of a phenomenal soundtrack by Cristobal Tapia de Veer, and a haunting theme from Hans Zimmer and Kara Talve.

Then, we've got the bringing together of this cast – again, no mean feat.

The team behind the drama scoured the country to put together this cast, and have no doubt found some future stars in the making.

Perhaps the two most immediately impressive among them are David McKenna as Piggy and Lox Pratt as Jack. While the former has a naturalism, a comic timing and an impressive sense of world-weariness beyond his years, Pratt brings a dynamism to his role, but also an interiority that many may not be expecting.

His Jack has the right amount of swagger and self-certainty to be believable as an attractive leader, but also the petulance and aggression to make him at times chilling. Beyond all that, he also has an internal hollowness and loneliness that even he can't fully comprehend. For an actor of Pratt's age to encompass all that is remarkable.

The rest of the cast are strong too - whether that be Winston Sawyers in the difficult role of the slightly self-serious Ralph, Ike Talbut as the oft-mocked Simon, or Thomas Connor as the sadistic Roger.

Thorne has been at pains to stress that this is a faithful adaptation, guided entirely by Golding's work. In the vast majority of ways, that is the case.

There are some slight deviations that are made to the story, particularly in the second and fourth episodes, but for the most part literally – and I would argue entirely in spirit – it follows Golding to the letter.

It was the right direction to take this. There are times at which looser adaptations are warranted, but we have already seen plenty of modern projects which have quite clearly been inspired by Golding's tale, so if we're going back to the source material, we might as well really do so.

There is also genuinely no need to stray. Golding's novel has lost none of its bite or relevancy since its 1954 publication – in fact, it feels remarkably contemporary in so many ways. The themes of clashing visions of society, populism, barbarism and anti-intellectualism all feel scarily prescient and poignant.

Meanwhile, Thorne's decision to tell each of the episodes from the perspective of one central character – first Piggy, then Jack, then Simon, then Ralph – proves to be a masterful take.

It's never heavy-handed or overwhelming, but simply helps to imbue each chapter with a different energy, and give each of the central characters a more thorough examination than might otherwise be afforded.

It's not perfect. The final episode has areas where it surprisingly drags, despite the action nominally being at its height, while the moments of greatest despair and horror at times feel slightly less horrific than they should.

As is clearly intentional within the story itself, there's a line to be found between the chaos of the boys' descent into savagery and the stillness required to reflect on what's just happened at any given time, particularly when major, Earth-shaking events occur.

The very end of the series finds this and finds it effectively, with a sobering final sequence which sticks rigidly to the novel and is presented with just the right tone. There are sequences earlier where it feels like the mark is slightly missed, and either not enough time, or too much, is spent pondering over preceding, harrowing events.

Still, there's no doubt this is a phenomenal feat, one which can be enjoyed thoroughly by those coming fresh to the story and those returning to it alike.

Personally, aside from it giving me flashbacks to a disconcerting memory of school, I found that when I wasn't mesmerised by the visuals and the technical feat on display, I was being reminded of why this story is so powerful.

The complexity of the characters, the simplicity of the story and the speed at which the descent occurs all ring true.

As we grapple with what it means to be a child growing up in the modern world – something Thorne is clearly fascinated and troubled by from his work on Adolescence – the story also poses plenty of questions for us as adults. Why do societies crumble? How do we co-exist with those whose only interest is power? And is evil inherent in man?

There you go, GCSE students – you can have those ones for free.

Lord of the Flies will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from Sunday 8th February 2026.

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