Daisy Jones & The Six TV review — sleaze and turmoil of a fictional 1970s band

It’s a mystery how all the cocaine-fuelled feuding and affairs that defined Fleetwood Mac have still yielded nothing but the vaguest rumours of a biopic. For now, we must settle with Daisy Jones & The Six. The new 10-part Amazon Prime Video series, adapted from Taylor Jenkins Reid’s 2019 bestseller, recounts the rise and fall of a fictional 1970s soft-rock group very loosely based on Fleetwood Mac.

Daisy Jones & The Six’s tumultuous few years of fame play out as a drama, but the show’s rockumentary framing device brings to mind another legendary ensemble: Spinal Tap. Each episode features pointed interjections by the band members, who appear as talking heads in a film marking the 20-year anniversary of their hitherto unexplained break-up.

Unlike This Is Spinal Tap!, the series takes the business of a touring rock group very seriously indeed, often turning the earnestness up to 11. There are weighty and emotional performances as the show chronicles the inner turmoil, interpersonal friction, addiction and sleaze experienced by the volatile Daisy Jones (Riley Keough, Elvis’s granddaughter), broody co-frontman Billy Dunne (Sam Claflin) and the rest of The Six. Rarely, however, does it let its greasy rock-star hair down, or even really revel in the music.

For all the effort to confer authenticity on this faux band — to the point that their album Aurora has been recorded by the cast for a real release — there’s a jarring neatness and scripted sheen behind all the backstage chaos and the supposedly raw truths broached in the later interviews. A series steeped in 1970s period detail and rock mythology will always find an audience, but Daisy Jones feels more like a solid tribute act than the real thing. Bring on the Fleetwood Mac movie.

★★★☆☆

Three episodes on Amazon Prime Video from March 3; new episodes released weekly

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