Girls on a pirate ship? It's just a farce!
Paul Burnett, another offshore jock and former Radio 1 DJ, is seething and the lawyers have been called in.
He believes The Boat That Rocked could be based on a screenplay he pitched to Universal Studios five years ago. “Mine, which I wrote with film director Ian Sharp [Minder, The Professionals, Who Dares Wins], is called Rock The Boat,” explains Burnett.
“I have been trying to make this film for the past 20 years. There is no doubt in my mind that The Boat That Rocked could be based on my script. The lawyer [Keith Schilling, who famously specialises in defamation and privacy] is on it.
“I haven’t seen the film but friends who have describe it as a Carry On movie without the humour. It sounds like a farce. Girls on a pirate radio ship? Are they barking? As Tony Blackburn put it, ‘If it had been like that, I’d still be out there!’
“Apart from anything else, the North Sea is rough and dangerous. Miles out to sea, jumping from ship to ship; there were fatalities. Two weeks on, one week off, throwing up on air, halfway through a commercial. The experience was grim.
“Universal has short-changed us. What is missing from this version is any affection for the period. It was a special time for teenagers, and that was the essence we intended to celebrate. As far as I’m concerned, it’s still there to be told.”
