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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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