BBC recruits Jack Thorne to adapt ‘Lord Of The Flies’

Jack Thorne

UK pubcaster the BBC has teamed up with His Dark Materials screenwriter Jack Thorne to adapt William Golding’s acclaimed novel Lord Of The Flies for TV for the first time.

Thorne will write the 4 x 60-minute drama for BBC One and BBC iPlayer, which will be executive produced by Joel Wilson and Jamie Campbell from Sony Pictures TV-backed Eleven. Nawfal Faizullah will exec produce for the BBC.

Lord Of The Flies tells the story of a group of young boys who find themselves stranded on a tropical island. In an attempt to remain civil, the boys organise themselves, led by Ralph and supported by the group’s intellectual, Piggy.

But Jack, who is in charge of signal fire duty, is more interested in hunting and vying for leadership and begins to draw other boys away from the order of the group and ultimately from hope to tragedy.

“I first read the book when I was seven and it made an indelible impression on me – more than any novel since,” said Eleven’s Joel Wilson. “It is a great honour and joy to be taking responsibility for the adaptation of such a precious novel – particularly given I’ll be working alongside my dear friend Jack – one of the kindest and most insightful writers on the planet. He has written some of the more detailed and affecting portraits of human beings one could hope to encounter.”

As well as writing the adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy for the BBC, Thorne is also behind the Channel 4 drama National Treasure, Netflix musical drama The Eddy and last year’s BBC drama Then Barbara Met Alan.