As the BBC’s new four-part adaptation of William Golding‘s ‘Lord of the Flies‘ draws praise, it has brought fresh attention to the real events behind one of the darkest stories of childhood.
The series follows British schoolboys who turn violent after being stranded on an island during a fictional war. The idea may seem extreme, but real ordeals shaped it. The Second World War changed Golding deeply, and he went from being hopeful about people to believing that “man produces evil as a bee produces honey.”
Inside William Golding’s Harrowing War Experience
In December 1940, when Golding was just 29, he joined the Royal Navy. He first served as an ordinary seaman on HMS Galatea in the North Sea, and later became a lieutenant in charge of a rocket-launching ship.
Related: Marvel Studios Is Reportedly Working On A ‘World War Hulk’ Film
Golding’s time in the war was full of danger. He helped escort convoys across the Atlantic through waters filled with German U-boats, took part in the hunt for the battleship Bismarck, and was present during the D-Day landings on Gold Beach in Normandy in June 1944.
That night, as Allied Forces moved onto the French coast, Golding stood on deck and watched the sky fill with red tracer fire from planes and gliders. According to Yahoo News, he later recalled, “So we turned southeast and steamed at full speed all night over jet black waves that were showered with sparks of phosphorescence and possibly loaded with mines. I stood there all night catching up and felt history in my hands as hard and heavy as a brick.”
What he saw during the war stayed with him. Watching the violence carried out by ordinary men and the scale of destruction changed how he perceived humanity, and it broke his earlier belief in human goodness.
The Tragic Evacuation Story That Shaped the Novel
The novel’s main idea was also shaped by a dark moment from wartime evacuation. In 1940, the British government set up the Children’s Overseas Reception Board, sending thousands of children to safer countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
In case you missed it: 20 Best TV Shows And Movies Based On Plane Crash And Survival Drama
Golding, who was still teaching at the time, would have known about it. The worst moment came on 17 September 1940, when a German U-boat sank the SS City of Benares in the Atlantic. The ship carried 90 child evacuees, and 77 of them died along with more than 200 adults.
The disaster showed how dangerous it could be to send children away during the war, and it echoes the plane crash that leaves the boys stranded in ‘Lord of the Flies.’
How WW2 Gave Birth to ‘Lord of the Flies’
Golding’s war service went through harsh campaigns like Walcheren and others. By the time the war ended, his outlook had changed. He no longer believed in the kind of hopeful adventure stories where stranded boys survive through courage, like ‘The Coral Island.’
Instead, he penned a very different story. A group of evacuees, cut off from adults, quickly turns on each other. They form groups, hunt pigs, paint their faces, and even kill. The order they try to build falls apart, and the fear they feel comes from within themselves.
Why the BBC’s 2026 ‘Lord of the Flies’ Adaptation Matters Today
The BBC series, with a new young cast and filmed in Malaysia, shows this slow fall into chaos while keeping the story’s wartime roots in mind. As Ralph’s leadership begins to break, and Jack’s group grows more violent, the show reflects what Golding came to believe after the war.
More than seventy years after it was published, ‘Lord of the Flies‘ still feels unsettling. In a time when global tensions are rising again, the story serves as a warning. What Golding witnessed during the war did not stay in the past. It lives in human nature, which is why the story still feels so real today.
You might also like to read: Top 5 Best Survival Anime
