Just in time for the Jubilee, Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle’s troubled dramatisation of the Sex Pistols story finally arrives on the small screen tomorrow
What’s it called?
The title is Pistol, it was created by Strictly Ballroom co-writer Craig Pearce and written by him and Frank Cottrell-Boyce. The six-part drama debuts tomorrow on – wait for it – Disney +, the Mouse House’s streaming platform.
And why troubled?
Because John Lydon, aka snarling Sex Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten, objected to the use of the seminal punk band’s music in the show. In fact he objected so much – “disrespectful” was one of his more polite descriptions of the project – he filled a lawsuit against former bandmembers Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Glen Matlock, and against the estate of bassist Sid Vicious, aka John Ritchie. Vicious died from a drug overdose in New York in 1979 while on bail for the murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen.
And Lydon lost?
He did, allowing the use of Pistols favourites such as Pretty Vacant, Anarchy In The UK and, of course, God Save The Queen. The song was released as a single on May 27 1977, just ahead of the celebrations for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, and promptly banned by the BBC. That didn’t stop it reaching number one in the NME charts and number two in the official UK charts (an Establishment fix? Many people still think so).
So who’s in it?
Pistol is based on a memoir by guitarist Jones so concentrates on him rather than on Lydon or Vicious, telling the story through his eyes. Jones is played by Toby Wallace, best known (if he is known at all) for Australian film Babyteeth. The roles of Rotten and Vicious go to Anson Boon and Louis Partridge respectively, while Jacob Slater is drummer Paul Cook and Christian Lees is original bassist Glen Matlock. It’s the roles of the people around the band which have gone to the bigger names: Game Of Thrones alumni Maisie Williams and Thomas Brodie-Sangster play famous punk scenester Jordan (who sadly died in April but acted as a consultant on the shoot) and flamboyant Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren, Talulah Riley (who has twice been married to Elon Musk) plays Vivienne Westwood and the role of the ill-fated Nancy Spungen goes to English actress Emma Appleton, star of Netflix smash The Witcher,. Look out too for Beth Dillon as Siouxsie Sue of Banshees fame, Sydney Chandler as Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, Zachary Goldman as Billy Idol and Kai Alexander as Richard Branson, whose Virgin label issued God Save The Queen.
Anything else?
Boyle insisted the actors play all their instruments so there was a three month music rehearsal period overseen by Underworld’s Karl Hyde in which they mastered the Sex Pistols back catalogue in all its ramshackle glory.
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