LORD OF THE FLIES - sun bbc1 9pm - TV PACE. NO SPOILERS

[Blondeshavemorefun]

A group of school boys are marooned on a desert island in an adaptation or William Golding‘s classic novel Lord of the flies

A plane transporting, schoolboy crushed lands on a remote island with no adults around supervise them their attempts to remain civilise soon descends into violence.

This four part series is a first television dictation of the classic 1954 novel each episode is shown from one of the main characters with the first one devoted to piggy.

Piggy is a responsible one who wants to keep everything calm. A lot of the boys go so when they’re stranded piggy tells everyone they have to have rules but the boys don’t act well to that.

Piggy initially be friends Ralph a boy who voted leader but Ralph‘s rival Jack taught piggy about his weight and poor eyesight

Jack judges PIGGY starts picking on him. He tries to be friends with Ralph when he knows that Ralph is PIGGY‘s only thread to hold onto they really don’t like each other.

not sure if I will watch as never like the book at school but doing thread incase I do and for others who may enjoy

What a lovely lad he is. Agree about the challenges they faced. 3 hours filming max per day for the under 8s, 5 hours for the over 8s, and that included time in makeup and costume and transit times! How they got anything filmed at all is a wonder.

I watched this as well and also found it fascinating.
Really laughed at David McKenna (Piggy) saying that he was going to be cross if he wasn’t chosen as someone’s best man. What a brilliant little actor - and the poor boy has suffered massive health problems involving two kidney transplants! I hope that he’s got an amazing career ahead of him.

The making of it was interesting, what an adventure for them all. Mind, I'm not an expert on weather in the Far East but I believe they do have a rainy season, seems to have been when they filmed which unsurprisingly delayed things.

I'd have loved to have seen off screen interaction between Jack, Ralph, Simon and Piggy and found out if allegiances carried on off screen. Lox Pratt seemed similarly confident/alpha off screen whilst the boy playing piggy seemed nice but nerdy type, same as his character. Would have been fascinating to see them interacting together informally rather than just individually parroting character development ideas fed from the acting coaches.

They went out to Malaysia at the end of July, and stayed until just before Christmas if I remember correctly. The boys are all friends and have met up socially since filming.

That's good to hear it'd just have been nice to see some banter between them. I wanted to see Piggy and Jack taking the mick out of each other, the chat to the camera all seemed a bit stilted and scripted imo.

I too go the feeling Jack wanted to stay @Blondeshavemorefun.
It suited his ego to be in charge, to be free to runnthe place under his rules.
Roger as a character went a bit under the radar for me.
I knew Jack was ghastly.
Simon hurting.
Ralph a leader and Piggy a wee dote sensible and rational.
Roger threw the conch at Piggy. But he didn’t intend to kill him. Did he also kill Simon ?

Jack would have stayed because he had nothing to go back for, hence his hesitation.
This Roger was definitely not malevolent or menacing enough.
Piggy's death murder was a parody of what it should have been.
There was no impact.
In the book, there was immediate horror at the situation - Piggy was killed by a boulder released purposely by Roger.
There was no ambiguity about it.

Funny, I expressed my dissatisfaction to year 12s I teach who have read the book and watched the show and they thought it was great and an improvement form the book! I begged to differ...

My book has arrived

It wasn't the conch that got thrown. Piggy is holding it and it smashes .

Yes, both the conch and poor Piggy are obliterated in one fell swoop by Roger deliberately releasing the boulder .
This one act is symbolic of the descent into lawlessness.

Thank you for clarifying @WeeAgnesand@Piggywaspushed
What was his reaction then and when he heard about Piggy’s death.
I know it’s fiction but I really hoped the naval man got the vibe that Ralph was a goody and Jack and Roger were awful human beings.

Not at all. The naval officer is bored by all of them and somewhat embarrassed. He just stares out to sea.

I'm not sure Roger really features that much after killing Piggy. I don't expect he reacts at all. He's a sadist.

They were all based rather chillingly on actual public school boys Golding knew.

I found it fascinating watching the doc how the boys all were indeed clearly privileged boys except David McKenna! Gyles Brandreth's grandson was Maurice. Hopefully all far nicer and less entitled...

@deeahgwitch sorry I missed this bit -

Roger threw the conch at Piggy. But he didn’t intend to kill him. Did he also kill Simon ?

Roger absolutely knew what he was doing by releasing the lever that held the boulder in place.
Poor Piggy literally did not see it coming as he was practically blind without his glasses (which Jack's tribe had stolen; this was the reason for Ralph, Piggy and Samneric going to them to get Piggy's glasses back)

Roger alone did not kill Simon.
They all had a part in it - even Ralph and Piggy!
It was during a storm.
Simon had just discovered the 'Beast' or monster they had all been fearing was actually the dead airman wearing (is that right word?) a parachute and he was heading back to camp to tell the others.
Unfortunately they had all been working themselves up into a frenzy with their tribal dancing and it is suggested the atmospheric pressure from the electric storm (they are in a tropical monsoon region) heightened all their senses, including fear.
When Simon comes bounding out of the forest they all turn on him believing him to be the Beast... and they kill him.

Again, utterly horrifying when you are reading this and realisation dawns on what has just happened.
Poor Simon with the angelic voice.

I have not watched the documentary yet!
But I will relish it.
On the whole it was a brilliantly cast, but the Roger character was weak and ineffective. He should have had more of a presence as he plays such a pivotal role.
Just my opinion.

This is the final chapter if anyone wants a read and compare.

https://genius.com/William-golding-lord-of-the-flies-chap-12-cry-of-the-hunters-annotated

The making of is really good

so lovely to see the boys

piggy was sweet and Jack as well

thy will go far

interesting to see filming in daylight and the talking pigs head and then the scene showing lighting and colours /red

the maggots /fish guts

blondes heaves

to get real flies

You can also see how handsome lox aka Jack will turn out as his dad in rather cute and blondes doesn’t do beards

In the making of it programme I thought the boys seemed to match the characters they played, Jack in particular - so they were cast as themselves.

Yes I thought that. The nice kid playing poor piggy thinking he was going to be other boy's best man and wanting to be on a desert island with the cast of Les Mis all very earnest, who even thinks that at their age!
I bet Lox Pratt/Jack didn't have to try too hard to be alpha.

@Piggywaspushed
It was an open casting call, and at least 2 of the leads came through that process from state schools.

Oh really? Doesn't mean they aren't privileged of course! David and the boy who plays Roger I suspect!

I know Lox Pratt is home educated in a particularly ' free school' way hence his confidence.

He's probably not a bully in real life. He comes across as self aware and confident, rather than arrogant.

I hope you'll be inspired to read it and appreciate it more as an adult than you were as a child .

I skimmed through my ancient copy - the pages are yellow and falling out . The part where Piggy is waiting , disabled by his loss of his glasses and trying to reason with Jack and beg for the return of his glasses .

My copy has a quote where Piggy asks "Which is better , to be a pack of painted (cannot write the word , my post will be deleted but you know what I mean) like you are ..."
My DD newer book has "to be a pack of painted n----"
The 1963 film states "savages "

Obviously this book is of it's time it was written in 1954 .
But when Ralph looks for the worst word he knows , he comes up with "You let the bloody fire out "

The book is amazing . I hope it won't be cancelled due to language , I would imagine it is discussed in schools the use of the language , you cannot ignore it in text

I will read again. Not sure when but will let you know my thoughts