Clive King

Depending on circumstance, if any of you listening to this are familiar with it at all, you may know it from that 1960s book you were made to read in English lessons at school, its 1981 TV adaptation, possibly your local community theater production of it in the UK, or the 2002 version that we're discussing now, Stig of the Dump.

[gentle music] So for those of you who have never heard of this show, which I imagine is most of you, Stig of the Dump is a 2002 CBBC miniseries adaptation of Clive King's 1963 children's novel of the same name.

The story follows Barney, a young boy visiting his grandparents in England, who falls over the edge of a disused quarry, where he discovers and befriends Stig, a caveman who has constructed a den out of discarded rubbish.

The miniseries stars Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Barney, and it's the second adaptation of the novel following a 1981 effort produced for ITV, which we have neither watched nor will discuss here.

How many wonders can one cavern hold?

Although mind you, that mobile made out of frying pans was pretty cool.

Stig often takes Barney's gifts and use them for something completely different and innovative, which is a big part of the original book, because Clive King does make a very big deal of Stig's tool-making abilities and how he invents contraptions and things that he needs for living in his cave.

The first thing he does when he meets Barney is make him a spearhead out of flint by flint knapping, which is a common tool-making ability used by hominids.