A WELLINGTON School pupil has been selected to take part in the BBC production of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.

Year 9 pupil, Tom, will play the part of Bill – one of the choir boys led by their authoritative leader, Jack Merridew.

Lord of the Flies is the story of a group of young schoolchildren who find themselves stranded on a tropical island with no adults, following a deadly plane crash.

In an attempt to remain civil, the boys organise themselves, led by Ralph and supported by the group’s intellectual, Piggy.

But Jack, who is in charge of signal fire duty, is more interested in hunting and vying for leadership and soon begins to draw other boys away from the order of the group and, ultimately, from hope to tragedy.

Tom, who is currently in Malaysia where the show is being filmed, said he “jumped for joy” when he was told he got the part.

“I was absolutely amazed,” he said.

“I was so happy because it took a lot of effort to audition and then we hadn’t heard anything so they really surprised me and it made it even better.

“The audition process was long. I first auditioned at school, then I was asked back to audition for multiple roles: Ralph, Maurice, Roger and Bill.

“It took a long time to audition for all the parts, but it all paid off. I enjoyed going up to London and auditioning with Nina Gold, who is such an amazing casting director.”

Tom said he has already made lots of new friends with the rest of the cast in Malaysia.

A spokesperson for Wellington School said: “Congratulations Tom. We are immensely proud of everything you have achieved and look forward to seeing you on our screens soon!”

The book is being adapted for television for the first time by the multi-BAFTA award winning writer Jack Thorne (His Dark Materials, Help, National Treasure, Enola Holmes) and directed by Marc Munden (Help, The Sympathizer), with the score created by the multi-Oscar winning composer Hans Zimmer (Dune, Planet Earth, The Lion King).