Fx has announced that production will begin on a six-part limited series chronicling the the career of iconic UK punks, Sex Pistols, according to Variety.
The Academy award-winning Danny Boyle will helm the project and serve as the executive producer. The series is titled Pistol and will include an ensemble cast that features Toby Wallace (Babyteeth, Romper Stomper) as Steve Jones, Anson Boon (1917, Shadowplay) as Johnny Rotten, Louis Partridge (Medici) as Sid Vicious, and Jacob Slater as Paul Cook. The series will also feature Maisie Williams as the prototype of punk, Jordan Mooney.
The six-episode collection will be based on the 2016 memoir from the band's Steve Jones, Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol. Boyle has described the significance of the project as a sea change in British street culture.
“Imagine breaking into the world of ‘The Crown’ and ‘Downton Abbey’ with your mates and screaming your songs and your fury at all they represent,” said Boyle. “This is the moment that British society and culture changed forever. It is the detonation point for British street culture…where ordinary young people had the stage and vented their fury and their fashion…and everyone had to watch & listen…and everyone feared them or followed them. The Sex Pistols. At its center was a young charming illiterate kleptomaniac – a hero for the times – Steve Jones, who became in his own words, the 94th greatest guitarist of all time. This is how he got there.”
The progression of the show "moves from West London’s council estates, to Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s notorious Kings Road SEX shop, to the international controversy that came with the release of 'Never Mind the Bollocks', which is frequently listed as one of the most influential albums of all time."
The historical context of the show continues, “Their single ‘God Save the Queen’ was banned by the BBC and reached Number 1 on the UK’s NME chart, but appeared at Number 2 on the Official UK Singles chart, leading to accusations that the song was purposely kept off the top spot. For the only time in chart history, the track was listed as a blank, to avoid offence to the monarchy.”
The show is being written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, who also penned the essential 24 Hour Party People. The return to the small screen for Boyle follows his success with with the series Trust, revisiting the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III.
Pistol is set top begin production on March 7th and no premiere date has been shared yet.
