The best TV show of 2026 so far starts tonight on BBC One and it'll destroy you
This is the best version of Lord of the Flies yet
BBC One’s new Sunday night drama is an age-old story, one you’ll almost certainly know. Dismiss it on those terms, and you’ll miss out on a telly masterpiece. Sometimes, “the greatest ideas are the simplest”.
Jack Thorne isn’t a rising talent. He’s been around for years, writing episodes of Skins and This is England ’86, as well as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
However, his name has become a sudden (and deserved) indicator of prestige after Adolescence. It became an instant pop-cultural reference point; a devastating drama that illuminated the insidious undercurrents of modern-day teenagedom and masculinity.
His new series, premiering tonight at 9pm, is similarly troubling. Yet, much like Adolescence, its horror isn’t its only strength – this is edge-of-your-seat, transportive TV, and an immediate all-timer for the BBC.
Lord of the Flies starts on BBC One tonight
Based on William Golding’s iconic novel, Lord of the Flies follows a group of schoolboys who end up marooned on an uninhabited island.
There are no adults, and no hope of rescue on the horizon. They must fend for themselves, whether it’s hunting for food, lighting fires, or building shelters for their helpless ‘littleuns’.
Leadership, or the lack thereof, becomes a catalyst for trouble. Piggy (David McKenna) and Ralph (Winston Sawyers) plead for order, but Jack (Lox Pratt), their crueller counterpart, wants to take charge.
Across four episodes, we see their efforts to survive while achieving some sort of harmony. No spoilers, but as Golding wrote, “the world, that understandable and lawful world” starts to slip away.
Speaking ahead of the show’s release, Thorne explained how Lord of the Flies is a “perfect distillation of our contemporary problem”.
“We’re losing a generation of boys and we’re losing it because of the hate they are ingesting,” he said.
“I hope it takes people back to the book, and I hope it allows people to lean into what the book really is, in my opinion, a difficult and dangerous account of who we are and what we’re capable of.”
Why you need to watch the BBC’s Lord of the Flies
All four episodes are tremendous feats of practical filmmaking (some ropey CGI aside; sorry, but the pigs look dodgy).
There’s a genuine sense of immersion, particularly in its trippy grisliness and sprawling island photography. The music is fantastic, too, courtesy of Hans Zimmer and White Lotus composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer.
Each of the child stars, many of whom make their debut performances here, are superb in their own right.
McKenna and Pratt (the Harry Potter show’s new Draco) are the standouts, making your hearts bleed and rage as the story’s gnawing inevitability sets in.
Here’s the thing: we’ve had three movies, a Simpsons version, multiple stage plays, and a drama. Lord of the Flies has been revisited time and time again – so, why should you endure it again?
It’s simple: this is the definitive adaptation of a text whose power has possibly been lost to time. Consider it renewed, and soberingly so.
Read more: Lord of the Flies BBC filming locations: The exact ‘remote’ island and why the show never says where it takes place
