Before masculinity was toxic, before colonialism was a dirty word, there was William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. A staple of classrooms and thrice adapted for film, the cautionary tale of children reverting to a primal savagery is one of the most influential narratives in all of literature. But what is it about the present moment that makes the BBC think it is ripe for a four-part primetime reimagining?
An aircraft, carrying a manifest composed largely of school-age boys, goes down on an uninhabited tropical island. Summoned by Ralph (Winston Sawyers) blowing a conch, the children form a fragile society. Ralph is elected their chief, Piggy (David McKenna) his trusted, but bullied, lieutenant. Jack (Lox Pratt), runner-up in the chieftain vote, leads the group’s hunters, alongside Simon (Ike Talbut), a sensitive boy who serves as envoy between the two camps. They are British children of the immediate postwar era, hardened by the conflict and resolved to retain a stiff upper lip. “My father is in the navy, and he says there aren’t any unknown islands left,” Ralph tells his people. “The Queen has a picture of this island.” But thoughts of home – of Blighty and Her Maj – quickly become secondary to the harsh realities of life in their new home. Hope for rescue is subsumed by an atavistic desire to survive.
