Where there’s a Jubilee, the Sex Pistols are rarely far behind, spitting and sneering for the benefit of anyone who doesn’t feel like hoisting a Union Jack next weekend. In this 70th year of Her Majesty’s reign, that of course means reissuing both versions of the endlessly controversial God Save the Queen single on vinyl. More interesting is a new look for the old band, played by unknown actors in the six-part Disney+ biopic Pistol. It’s Danny Boyle’s first major TV project but looks like familiar territory for the Trainspotting director, plunging into another sordid world of hard drugs, loud music and excessive bodily fluids.
On the other hand, the bloody, druggy violence of Pistol, which had its premiere in London last night, couldn’t be further from Boyle’s last work, chirpy Beatles romcom fantasy Yesterday. He’s definitely versatile. The last time he featured the Queen in a project, she was skydiving into the Olympic Stadium with James Bond at the London 2012 opening ceremony. Here she’s presiding over a less-than-Great Britain of National Front marches, brutal police and bin bags piled high in the streets, shown in grainy documentary footage woven through the drama.
