It’s hard to imagine a richer subject for a music biopic than the raucous, rebellious 1975–78 ride of the Sex Pistols.

Craig Pearce, who created Pistol, a six-episode FX on Hulu saga of British punk’s Godfathers, knew he’d need to capture the tale of Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious, Steve Jones, and Paul Cook (above, from left: Anson Boon, Louis Partridge, Toby Wallace, and Jacob Slater) after listening to Pistols guitarist Jones reading his 2016 autobiography, Lonely Boy.

“One phrase from the book that stuck with me was ‘The music always saved me; I’d be dead now without music,’” Pearce recalls. The series also captures the destitute conditions in England that birthed the band.

“Young people felt they had no future,” Pearce says. Music gave the band—and their fans—a purpose: “It was a fertile time for something to explode.”

Pistol also stars Christian Lees, Sydney Chandler, Talulah Riley, Maisie Williams, Emma Appleton, and Thomas Brodie-Sangster. It’s directed by Oscar winner Danny Boyle and executive produced by Boyle, Pearce, Jones, Tracey Seaward, Gail Lyon, Anita Camarata, Paul Lee, and Hope Hartman.