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Offshore Radio on Film and TV

The Boat That Rocked

"The Boat That Rocked" (retitled “Pirate Radio” in North America, “Good Morning England” in France, “Radio Rock Revolution” in Germany, “Rock Wave” in CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) region, and “I Love Radio Rock” in Italy)  is a comedy in which the romance takes place between the young people of the 1960’s and pop music.

The film is about a band of DJs that captivated Britain, playing the music that defined a generation and standing up to a government that wanted classical music, and nothing else, on the airwaves. The Count, a big, brash, American god of the airwaves; Quentin, the boss of Radio Rock -- an offshore radio station in the middle of the North Sea that's populated by an eclectic crew of rock and roll DJs; Gavin, the greatest DJ in Britain who has just returned from his drug tour of America to reclaim his rightful position; Dave, an ironic, intelligent and cruelly funny co-broadcaster; and a fearsome British government official out for blood against the drug takers and lawbreakers of a once-great nation.

Cast

Philip Seymour Hoffman -"The Count"

Tom Sturridge - "Young" Carl

Bill Nighy - Quentin

Will Adamsdale - "News" John Mayford

Rhys Ifans - Gavin Kavanagh

Nick Frost - DJ "Doctor" Dave

Tom Brooke - "Thick" Kevin

Rhys Darby - Angus "The Nut" Nutsford.

Katherine Parkinson - Felicity

Chris O'Dowd - "Simple" Simon Swafford

Tom Wisdom - "Midnight" Mark

Ralph Brown - "Smooth" Bob Silver

Ike Hamilton - Harold

Kenneth Branagh - Sir Alistair Dormandy

Sinead Matthews - Miss C

Jack Davenport - Domenic Twatt

Talulah Riley - Marianne

Emma Thompson - Charlotte

January Jones - Elenore

Gemma Arterton - Desiree

Ian Mercer - Tender Boatman

Stephen Moore - the Prime Minister

Michael Thomas - Sandford

Bohdan Poraj - Fredericks

Olegar Fedoro - Ship's Captain

Francesca Longrigg - Sir Alistair Dormandy's Wife

Amanda Fairbank-Hynes - Sir Alistair Dormandy's daughter

Olivia Llewellyn - Margaret

Director - Richard Curtis

Producers - Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Hilary Bevan Jones, Richard Curtis (Executive Producer),

Debra Hayward (Executive Producer), Liza Chasin (Executive Producer), Emma Freud (Associate Producer), Ronaldo Vasconcellos (Co-Producer)

Writer - Richard Curtis

Music - Hans Zimmer

Cinematography - Danny Cohen (Director of Photography)

Film Editor - Emma E. Hickox

Casting - Fiona Weir, Mark Summers (Dance Casting Director)

Production Design - Mark Tildesley

Art Direction - Thomas Brown, Rod McLean (Supervising Art Director)

Set Decoration - Dominic Capon

Costume Design - Joanna Johnston

Full crew credits

The Producers wish to thank -

Tal Berkovich, Jonathon Burford, Hannah Cameron, James Corden, Marijke Dunham (special thanks), Michael English (special thanks), Chris Evans, Barry Feinstein (special thanks), Rich Fulcher, Anthony Jones, Natalie Milton, David Montgomery (special thanks), Chris Moyles, Jon Myer, Adam Parker (special thanks), Angela Paver, Simon Posthuma (special thanks), Johnnie Walker, Nigel Waymouth (special thanks), Guy Webster (special thanks)

Release Date  (UK) - 1st April 2009

Release Date (USA) - 13th November 2009

Released on DVD (UK) - 7th September 2009

Running time - 135 minutes (cut to 115 minutes in USA)

Trailer for The Boat That Rocked

Click to enlarge

Offshore Radio Connection

The storyline centres around a fictitious offshore radio station, modelled on the British stations of the 1960’s.

It contains some historical elements, but is not intended as an accurate representation of the real offshore stations.

Much of the equipment in the studio scenes came from Radio Caroline’s original studios. Caroline staff, past and present, also provided advice to the producers.