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King Street, Deal transformed into 1970s set as crowds gather to watch filming of Danny Boyle's Sex Pistols drama

13:49, 28 April 2021

updated: 20:30, 28 April 2021

Crowds have formed in Deal to watch filming of a high budget TV drama about punk band The Sex Pistols.

Alleys and roads leading to King Street have been taped off with security guards keeping people back while scenes for Pistol, being directed by Danny Boyle, are shot.

Crowds watching the filming of the Sex Pistols biopic in Deal this afternoon

Eager townsfolk have gathered to watch the activity from behind the barriers.

The arrival of a coach dating from the late 60s bearing a sign saying "nowhere" on the front drew particular interest.

The Sex Pistols used such a sign on their touring bus as a joke about their concert destinations.

Earlier, virtually all of King Street was completely transformed for the filming.

Classic cars, typical of the mid 1970s, arrived in the town in preparation for the shoot in King Street and Middle Street Car Park this afternoon and evening.

Crowds gather to watch the filming of Pistol in Deal
Crowds gather to watch the filming of Pistol in Deal
The Sex Pistols' 'Nowhere' tour bus in Deal
The Sex Pistols' 'Nowhere' tour bus in Deal

And the street scene at King Street has completely changed.

Award-winning Boyle is at the helm of the new six-part production for FX.

The Royal arcade becomes music venue Ivanhoe's complete with fake brick around the doorway and promotional posters
The Royal arcade becomes music venue Ivanhoe's complete with fake brick around the doorway and promotional posters
The Just Reproach micropub is now a corner shop - just for filming
The Just Reproach micropub is now a corner shop - just for filming

Named Pistol, it is based on Steve Jones' 2018 memoir Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol, and will consist of six episodes.

The action in Deal comes after the academy award winner was seen filming in Dover on Monday.

That afternoon Boyle was photographed in a buggy driving along the cordoned off Marine Parade.

The programme makers are using vehicles that existed in the Seventies. Here are a Vauxhall Viva, the same one used for Monday's filming in Dover, plus a Volvo and Morris Minor.
The programme makers are using vehicles that existed in the Seventies. Here are a Vauxhall Viva, the same one used for Monday's filming in Dover, plus a Volvo and Morris Minor.
Period vehicles for the filming. The car is a Rover P6 and the van, a Ford Transit
Period vehicles for the filming. The car is a Rover P6 and the van, a Ford Transit

Today, King Street in Deal will be cordoned off and some kind of drone filming is expected. Conventional cameras will be shooting around the seafront and the former Royal arcade and snooker club is central to the action.

Steve Lavery’s salon, Mr Dapper Master Barbers, will also be filmed and work to the shop signs along the street is being undertaken to transform the area back in time to the mid 70s - the time when the Sex Pistols and the punk era emerged.

Pekish Chicken shop gets to keep its name, but its sign needed the 70s touch
Pekish Chicken shop gets to keep its name, but its sign needed the 70s touch

These pictures by reporter Eleanor Perkins show period cars ready for when the cameras start to roll.

The show's cast includes Game of Thrones' Maisie Williams, who will play punk icon Jordan (aka Pamela Rooke), and Babyteeth‘s Toby Wallace as Jones.

Thomas Brodie-Sangster, of Game of Thrones, Love Actually and The Maze Runner fame, has also recently joined the cast.

The Barnardo's charity shop gets a run-down make-over so it's in keeping with the era
The Barnardo's charity shop gets a run-down make-over so it's in keeping with the era

Anson Boon is Johnny Rotten, Louis Partridge is Sid Vicious and newcomer Jacob Slater is drummer Paul Cook.

Producers have approached Graham Stiles of the King's Head in Deal, with a view to setting up a crew base at Channel View Bed & Breakfast which he owns.

Filming will also take place in Folkestone at and around the Grand Burstin Hotel.

Middle Street Car Park is mostly empty to allow the crew and actors space to film
Middle Street Car Park is mostly empty to allow the crew and actors space to film

Read more: All the latest news from Deal

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