Lord of the Flies; Betrayal

“Like most viewers, I read Lord Of The Flies at school. Long after the details of the story faded, I remembered the novel’s atmosphere, its heat-haze of unease. Filmed on a Malaysian island, director Marc Munden’s version evokes the surreal quality of a dream turning to nightmare. That is magnified by the discordant score, by Cristobal Tapia de Veer and Hans Zimmer with Kara Talve, full of 1950s echoes of British composers such as Benjamin Britten and Sir William Walton. Flashes of crackling white noise suggest some distant cataclysm, a Third World War or nuclear holocaust, while the sun blazes with such intensity that the edges of the picture seem to be melting. Scenes are intercut with close-ups of tropical creatures such as crabs, caterpillars and salamanders, alarming in their alien appearance because it’s so obvious that they belong in the jungle while the boys do not.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“This version of Lord of the Flies is an all-out horror, and very far from the usual slick Sunday night thrillers that the BBC usually invests in. It’s got more in common with The Wicker Man than The Night Manager. It’s experimental, bold and takes big swings – it’s not afraid of its source material, but neither is it in reverence to it. I’m sure some fans will be upset with its arthouse take on such a classic, but it’s hard not to be entranced and swept along into the frenzy. There’s never been a TV adaptation of Lord of the Flies before and after this masterful version, there probably should never be another.”
Emily Baker, The i

“The BBC has come in for some stick over its lack of original dramas. Adapting one of literature’s great novels, with the blessing of the Golding estate, is hardly a bold commissioning decision. But this is a first-class example of an adaptation done right, and television breathing new life into a familiar story.”
Anita Singh, Telegraph

“This doesn’t have the expensive slickness of some streaming thrillers (Apple TV+’s Tehran for instance) but the homespun writing offers an array of twists, which I shan’t spoil, except to say that Hughes retains our interest throughout in a gripping and intelligent tale. A brilliant ensemble offers a pleasingly textured perspective on life in Iran, the role of dissidence and the risks people take. There isn’t a clichéd villain in sight and the subject matter is certainly timely. Or it was at last month’s press screening when the Iranian protests were in full swing (which makes you think ITV missed a trick in not pulling the broadcast forward).”
Ben Dowell, The Times

“Betrayal is an espionage thriller so drab and downbeat, it plays more like a crime drama. John is a maverick with a complicated personal life, an irascible dinosaur pursuing his last quarry before the stiff shirts in head office finally manage to manoeuvre him into redundancy. It’s just that instead of his iconoclastic rule-breaking being in service of catching local murderers, John may be the only man who can stop Iran carrying out a major terror attack.”
Jack Seale, The Guardian