Jack Thorne first read Lord of the Flies as a child. He didn’t study it in school but received a copy from his mum who was a substitute English teacher.
The novel was stamped on the inside: Portway English Department.
“I quite like the fact that my Lord of the Flies copy was a stolen copy,” he notes with a touch of laughter.
The story by William Golding, about young boys stranded on an island who descend into bloody chaos, left a “profound scar” on Thorne and, years later, he’s adapting it into a four-part BBC series.
While Thorne notes that the title of the book has become a shorthand for the “evilness of boys,” the story and its characters are far more complex, he says.
The screenwriter explains that, for him, the story is “a remarkably tender portrait” of young boys. He adds that it is about the moments where we lose ourselves and become stuck in a situation we can’t control.
Thorne has become known for penning complex portrayals of masculinity and violence, having won an Emmy and Golden Globe for his series Adolescence, with the series being made available to show in schools across the UK to help open discussions around toxic masculinity and online radicalisation.