PIRATE RADIO DEPICTS BRITAIN ALIVE WITH POP MUSIC IN 1966
In 1966, pop music flowered, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and other artists from Britain. However, BBC refused to play the music because the government believed that those who heard the music were lowering standards, not just in music but also in coiffure and sex. Accordingly, chartered boats played the music of the day in international waters off the coast of Britain. The government responded by trying to find a way to shut down the radio, and then decided that the radio band on which they operated was a danger to public health because the waveband conflicted with an emergency waveband. In Pirate Radio, directed by Richard Curtis, that saga comes to the screen, focusing on one such ship and composites of DJ personalities. Pirate Radio mostly focuses on a coming-of-age portrayal of teenage Carl (played by Tom Sturridge) on board the ship. The film is a riotous comedy accompanied by music that was likely to have been played. The shutdown of the radio station is accomplished in an unexpected way, but the outcry over the persecution eventually prompted BBC to change its mind. MH