I finally got round to watching the new BBC adaptation of Lord of the Flies, and I’ll be honest, I went in expecting worthy, slightly heavy drama.

It is indeed heavy. But it’s also very well done.

Many of us did the book at school. Basically, a group of boys crash on an island, no adults, and at first they try to do things with some kind of democratic order. Elect a leader. Keep a fire going. Make some simple rules. Then it all slowly goes wrong. Power struggles. Fear of a mysterious “beast”. Things unravel pretty quickly.

On screen, it definitely hits differently to when I read the book. That said it was about 45 years ago.

The BBC version doesn’t overcomplicate it. It lets the story breathe. You can see how quickly things slide. One minute they’re arguing about who’s in charge, the next minute you’re thinking, “Wow, this has escalated a bit.” The descent feels believable, which is what makes it more uncomfortable as you shuffle in your chair.

What struck me most is how normal it all starts. There’s no moustache-twirling villain. Just insecurity, ego, fear and the desire to belong. Bit by bit, decency gets chipped away. And you find yourself thinking that the island isn’t the scary bit. It’s the young lads on it. Or at least some of it.

These are child actors yet the performances are strong across the board. The lad playing Ralph carries that awkward weight of responsibility really well. Jack’s shift from slightly bolshy posh boy to properly unsettling is done without pantomime. And Piggy, as ever, is the one you want to shake the others for not listening to. I really wanted a happy ending for Piggy.

In layman’s terms, it’s a story about what happens when the rules start to disappear and fear takes over. It’s about how thin the line is between “civilised” and “feral”. And watching it in 2026, with the world in the state it’s in, it doesn’t feel like dusty GCSE material. It feels disturbingly current in an era of spiteful populism that uses fear and hate in its playbook.

At times it’s bleak. Properly bleak. But I suppose it’s meant to be. I didn’t expect Love Island or some soppy shite with a lovely and I didn’t get it.

Not exactly cheerful viewing, but gripping, uncomfortable and very well done. You won’t come away feeling uplifted.

You will come away thinking about and seeing parallels in modern life.