By the end of 1977, the Sex Pistols sat at the top of the UK charts… while simultaneously hitting rock bottom. Sid Vicious was imploding, his partner Nancy Spungen was fuelling the chaos and Johnny Rotten was growing disillusioned with Malcolm McLaren’s toxic games.

Still, the band pushed ahead with a final run of gigs, including an unexpectedly wholesome Christmas Day show for children of striking firefighters. No one knew it then, but it would be their final UK performance for two decades.

Then came their first American tour. The Pistols were dropped into the heart of the conservative South. Sid carved into his own chest on stage and Rotten was nearly broken by paranoia. The tour descended into violence, vomit, and blood.

And to the end, in San Francisco, with the band on its knees, Johnny Rotten stared down the crowd and asked: “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” With a literal mic drop, he walked off stage, signalling the end of the Sex Pistols.

Featuring archive interviews from: Nancy Spungen, Johnny Rotten, Steve Jones, Paul Cook, Malcolm McLaren, Sid Vicious, Sex Pistols’ roadie Stephen 'Roadent' Conolly.

Presented by Gina Birch and Steve Lamacq

A BBC Audio Production

After the chaos of their Jubilee riverboat stunt and the media storm around God Save the Queen, the Pistols were marked men. Attacked in the streets, vilified in the press, and hated by half the country, Britain’s most notorious band were now public enemy number one.

But manager Malcolm McLaren had no intention of retreating. Amid rising paranoia, infighting, and Sid Vicious’s self-destruction, the Pistols did what no one expected: they released one of the most incendiary debut albums of all time - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols.

It wasn’t just the music that caused outrage. One word on its cover dragged the band into a landmark obscenity trial that would test the limits of free

Episode 6 of The Rise and Fall of Sex Pistols is the story of the album that changed British music forever, and how the Sex Pistols took on the law, the tabloids, and the establishment… and won.

Featuring archive interviews from: Richard Branson, Johnny Rotten, Steve Jones, Paul Cook, Malcolm McLaren and Sid Vicious alongside a new interview with the legendary photographer Dennis Morris and a cameo appearance from BBC 1 continuity announcer Duncan Newmarch.

Presented by Gina Birch and Steve Lamacq

A BBC Audio Production

1977, and as Britain prepared to celebrate the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, the Sex Pistols were plotting something else entirely. Fresh from being dropped by two major labels, they signed with Virgin Records and unleashed God Save the Queen… a blistering punk anthem that tore into the monarchy and shattered British tradition.

It was banned by the BBC, blacklisted from shops, and allegedly kept from reaching Number 1. And then, on Jubilee Day, the Pistols took to the Thames in a now-legendary riverboat stunt that ended with police raids and arrests.

Episode 5 is the story of how the Pistols hijacked Britain’s biggest party, declared war on the establishment, and created the most controversial single in UK history.

Featuring archive interviews from: Richard Branson, Johnny Rotten, Steve Jones, Paul Cook, Malcolm McLaren and Sid Vicious alongside new interviews with the legendary Sex Pistols official photographer Dennis Morris and groundbreaking bass player Jah Wobble.

Presented by Gina Birch and Steve Lamacq

A BBC Audio Production

In the aftermath of the Bill Grundy interview, the Sex Pistols became Britain’s most notorious band, not for their music, but for the chaos that followed. To some, they were a threat to society itself, and instead of ignoring them, middle England lost its collective mind.

Episode 4 of the Rise and Fall of Sex Pistols plunges into the wreckage of that moment: a UK tour collapsing date by date, sackings from two major labels in just six months, and how manager Malcolm McLaren spun outrage into art.

From smashed toilets to moral panic, from Caerphilly to Buckingham Palace, this is the story of how doing nothing made the Pistols more famous than ever.

Episode 4 features archive interviews from: Johnny Rotten, Steve Jones, Paul Cook, Malcolm McLaren and Sid Vicious alongside a brand-new interview with punk author and historian Chris Sullivan.

Presented by Gina Birch and Steve Lamacq

A BBC Audio Production

In just three months, the Sex Pistols went from unknowns to the most feared band in Britain. After headlining the infamous 100 Club Punk Festival, they landed a major-label deal with EMI and released their debut single, Anarchy in the UK.

Radio wouldn’t touch it, and record shops banned it. No matter, as within weeks the Pistols were on everyone’s lips… for an entirely different reason.

Episode 3 of The Rise and Fall of Sex Pistols focuses on one of the most notorious moments in British television history. A half-cut band. A smirking presenter. A live broadcast that shattered the illusion of polite British youth.

Within 24 hours, the headlines screamed “The Filth and the Fury!” and the nation erupted. Gigs were cancelled. Politicians raged. Record label shareholders revolted. EMI, who had only just signed the band, were already trying to distance themselves.

This was the moment Britain met punk at teatime… and it never recovered.

Episode 3 features archive interviews from: Johnny Rotten, Steve Jones, Vivienne Westwood, Paul Cook and Malcolm McLaren

Presented by Gina Birch and Steve Lamacq

A BBC Audio Production

Britain in the summer of 1976 was hot, angry, on strike and broke; a country on the brink. In the shadows, four raw, unpolished young punks were limbering up on the sidelines, unaware of the impact they would make.

From half-empty art school shows to now-legendary gigs at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall and London’s 100 Club Punk Festival, Episode 2 takes you inside the band’s earliest and most shambolic shows.

At the heart of it all: a band more interested in provocation than perfection. As guitarist Steve Jones told the NME during this period: “We’re not into music, we’re into chaos.”

Fights broke out, glasses were thrown, and punk ripped itself from the underground onto the front pages. The Pistols were forming a following, and they were soundtracking a country crying out for change.

The Sex Pistols were ready to deliver it, whether Britain wanted it or not.

Episode 2 features archive interviews from: Johnny Rotten, Glen Matlock, London club promoter Jack Barrie, Paul Cook, Peter Hook from Joy Division and New Order, Sid Vicious, Siouxsie Sioux, Malcolm McLaren and 100 Club promoter Ron Watts.

Alongside this, there is a new interview from TV Smith from The Adverts.

Presented by Gina Birch and Steve Lamacq

A BBC Audio Production

“Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” spat a deflated Johnny Rotten before walking off stage in San Francisco. The Sex Pistols were finished. One album, a handful of singles, and a trail of chaos that changed British music.

But where did it all begin? How did a green-haired kid from Finsbury Park, nearly killed by meningitis and raised in poverty, end up fronting the most incendiary band in British history?

In Episode 1 of The Rise and Fall of Sex Pistols, Gina Birch, a founding member of The Raincoats, and Steve Lamacq drag you back to the murky mid-70s and dive into the turbulent origins of punk’s most iconic band.

From stolen Bowie gear to backroom pub auditions, this is a story of disillusioned youth, of a fetish shop on the King’s Road, of a snarling, short-sighted teenager, and of a chaotic Britain. The perfect breeding ground for a cultural revolution that the Sex Pistols were being primed to lead.

Featuring archive interviews with: John Lydon, Steve Jones, Glen Matlock, Paul Cook, Malcolm McLaren, Vivienne Westwood and Bob Geldof.

Presented by Gina Birch and Steve Lamacq

A BBC Audio Production

So here we are, twenty years on...

The UK indie guitar scene was a brief, bright moment where exciting new bands emerged from all corners of the UK, and made themselves available to fans. It was a time when young people controlled the culture and left the major record labels in the dust. It was an intoxicating era of community, messiness and hedonism. And actually, there is a hunger for all of that now. Many of the bands from that time are still going, and are playing to more people than they ever have before. The UK Indie Explosion holds a fascination for those audiences too young to have experienced it firsthand, and those Gen Z-ers have popularised the term ‘indie sleaze’. Meanwhile, guitar music is cool again, with the likes of English Teacher, Wet Leg, and Wolf Alice leading a rock revival.

Presented by Kate Nash

The producers would like to extend deep thanks to:

Just six action-packed years after the start of the UK indie sleaze music scene, The Word magazine coins the derisory term “Landfill Indie” to describe the oversaturation of guitar music, turning the entire genre into a joke. Major labels are falling over themselves to sign the next big indie thing, but many of these hopefuls aren’t ready for the limelight. And audiences seem ready for a new, entirely different, sound ... one that's less male-dominated, for starters. Cue Kate Nash, Adele, Laura Marling, Florence Welch and co.

Featured interviewees include Alexandra Haddow, Johnny Borrell, Tara Joshi, Alex Kapranos, Paul Smith and Gary Jarman

Warning: this episode contains strong language and adult themes.

The UK indie guitar music scene hits the tabloids. Johnny Borrell, Pete Doherty and Luke Pritchard partner up with A-List celebrity girlfriends. Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse become unhealthy media obsessions. And most shockingly of all, Preston from the Ordinary Boys goes on Celebrity Big Brother and actually has a great time. This red top frenzy builds to a messy crescendo that includes phone hacking, divorce, band break-ups, and a devastating fatality.

Featured interviewees include Alexandra Haddow, Pete Doherty, Samuel Preston, Tara Joshi, Johnny Borrell and Luke Pritchard

Warning: this episode contains strong language, adult themes and descriptions of drug use, which some listeners may find distressing. Details of help and support are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline