Pirate Radio

"The Boat That Rocked" is an ensemble comedy in which the romance takes place between the young people of the '60s and pop music. It's about a band of rogue 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 -- a pirate 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.

In the mid 1960s, the BBC plays little pop music. To the ire of conservative elements of the UK government, a pirate radio station operates on a ship off the coast, capturing half the English audience. Fatherless young Carl, thrown out of school for smoking, is remanded by his elegant mother to the ship, where colorful men - and a lesbian - run the station. Every two weeks women come on board; he falls for the station manager's niece. There's a feud for DJ primacy between an expat Yank and an English god; the midnight DJ says little, the early A.M. jock rarely appears, and back on shore, a government minister is implacable. Can he sink the ship and silence rock and roll?