A CREW from a national radio station dropped anchor in Grimsby Docks to celebrate the release of a new film by the creator of Notting Hill and Love Actually.

Absolute Radio DJ Christian O'Connell broadcast his breakfast show live from a boat on the docks yesterday, and his guests included Grimsby Fish Market's chief executive Martyn Boyers and Grimsby Telegraph editor, Michelle Lalor.

Christian and his team are undertaking a tour of ports on the East Coast to coincide with the launch of The Boat That Rocked.

As reported, the comedy, written by Richard Curtis, is set on a pirate radio ship in the 1960s, broadcasting rock and pop music from offshore to young listeners frustrated by the BBC's old-fashioned output.

At their peak, pirate radio stations attracted about 25 million listeners by broadcasting music 24 hours a day, but most closed down after the introduction of the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act in 1967.

The Boat That Rocked is based loosely on the story of Radio Caroline, the only pirate station off Britain which survived when the Government outlawed offshore stations in 1967.

It made its last broadcast from international waters from the Ross Revenge, a former Grimsby trawler, in 1990.

Since 1991 Radio Caroline has broadcast on satellite and over the internet from a studio in Maidstone, Kent. The Ross Revenge, meanwhile, is currently docked at Tilbury, where it is undergoing repairs.

Christian told the Telegraph that broadcasting from the Fish Docks had been a real "eye opener."

He said: "There's a bit of a pong about today's show. I have never been anyway so smelly or noisy in my life but it's been great fun.

"This is my first time in Grimsby and we have had a nice time. It's really nice to get out of London and come up north. The beer is a lot cheaper and the people are a lot friendlier."

Pirate radio enthusiast Brian Rands (61), from East Halton, dropped into see the live broadcast.

He said: "I have a massive interest in offshore radio so I'm so pleased about the revival that the film is causing.

"I remember messing around with the dial and coming across Radio Veronica (a Dutch off-shore station). And then Caroline came along and everything changed.

"It was just so new. We were young and rebellious and it just captured the spirit of the time."

Find out more

www.theboatthatrocked.co.uk www.radiocaroline.co.uk www.absoluteradio.co.uk