Pistol

One of the Sex Pistols’ most famous stunts involved the hiring of a Thames boat for a floating gig to “celebrate” Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee in 1977. It was this provocative party that was to be re-enacted for the Pistol series.

The boat originally used by the Sex Pistols, MV Queen Elizabeth, is actually still operational on the Thames. However, as it has since been extensively refurbished, it no longer suited the scene – so we arranged the procurement of a suitable alternative.

Filming took place outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster on a Saturday evening in May 2021. We organised river closures for the shoot and coordinated traffic appropriately so filming could take place in a safe and secure environment.

Our versatile fleet provided everything needed for the shoot: Equity was in action as the camera boat and as a platform for drone filming; Lima Lima I deployed as the safety boat; whilst regal passenger vessel Edwardian was on site as the welfare boat for cast and crew.

Whilst the raucous river rave was our main involvement in production, we also assisted with another scene that recreated a meeting on Sir Richard Branson’s houseboat. For this we procured a suitable houseboat and relocated it to Hammersmith for filming, before towing it back to its original moorings. A safety boat was also provided during shooting for this.

Pistol premiered in May 2022 to strong reviews, becoming the first series that Livett’s have worked on to debut on streaming platform Disney+. And there’s many more to come!