In the 1960s, radio stations broadcast rock and pop music to up to 25 million people in the UK from ships anchored in the North Sea, outside any national jurisdiction, thus exploiting a loophole in the law. The film tells of one such group of DJs in 1966 who are at the forefront of the UK pirate radio movement, putting them at odds with a traditionalist British government which prefers to broadcast jazz.
The film is written and directed by Richard Curtis and is being made by Working Title Films for Universal Pictures. The Boat That Rocked stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Emma Thompson, Nick Frost, Rhys Darby and Kenneth Branagh.
