If you missed punk bio series Pistol before it was cruelly yanked from Disney+ back in late 2023, we have excellent news: it’s back, on a whole different streamer. Which reminds us of when the Sex Pistols were fired from music label A&M after six short days before signing with Virgin. How apt.
How to watch Pistol in the UK
All six episodes of Pistol are now streaming in the UK on Apply TV+.
Pistol: Miniseries
What is Pistol about?
The Sex Pistols!
Based on guitarist Steve Jones’ autobiography Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol, the miniseries follows the chaotic career of the band in ’70s London, the beating heart of the UK punk scene. Now, we’ve seen this before numerous times, including Alex Cox’s superb Sid & Nancy and eye witness Julien Temple’s The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle and The Filth and the Fury (Temple, who was hired by manager Malcolm McLaren to document the band, turns up as a character here). But this is from Jones’ perspective, so it’s a more personal take on the material and comes at it from a different angle. Oh, and the whole shebang was directed by everybody’s favourite train spotter, Danny Boyle.
The cast of Pistol
Babyteeth‘s Toby Wallace is Steve Jones, Anson Boon is Johnny Rotten, Jacob Slater is Paul Cook, Christian Lees is Glen Matlock, and Louis Partridge is Sid Vicious—your Sex Pistols. Outside of the band we get two time former Mrs Musk Talulah Riley as Vivienne Westwood, Sydney Chandler as future Pretender Chrissie Hynde, Emma Appleton as Nancy Spungen (if you know you know), Maisie Williams as iconic punk model Pamela “Jordan” Rooke, and Thomas Brodie-Sangster breaking out of child star hell with a ridiculously entertaining take on Malcolm McLaren.
And if you know your stuff, you’ll enjoy figuring out who is supposed to be who as various notables show up in the narrative—Siouxsie Sioux, Billy Idol, et al.
Pistol trailer
Why we’re excited about Pistol
Our (by which I mean my) thoughts on the matter are on record.
