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Those who rocked the boat

Updated on 23 March 2009

By Stephanie West

Stephanie West talks to actor Kenneth Branagh and writer/director Richard Curtis about the inspiration for their latest film, The Boat That Rocked.

'A really fun contrast'

Kenneth Branagh plays the villain of the piece, a politician trying to shut down the pirate radio stations.

"It seemed like a really fun contrast to play against the joy of the rest of the film," he says.

On his memories of pirate radio, he says: "It was very hard to truly understand when they said they were broadcasting from boats in the North Sea, even then it didn't seem to make any sense.

"Just to even listen to this music made you feel kind of rebellious."

'A relatively accurate fantasy'

"Pop music meant everything to me right from my youngest days," says the film's writer and director Richard Curtis.

He says the film is "sort of based on a dream of pirate radio".

"I think that the dream has some reality because these guys were actually living on these boats and doing these jobs 24-hours a day. So I would say it is a relatively accurate fantasy."

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