The Boat That Rocked - Cast

Cast

• Philip Seymour Hoffman as "The Count", the brash American DJ on Radio Rock. The character is loosely based on Emperor Rosko, a DJ on BBC Radio 1 during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
• Tom Sturridge as "Young" Carl, who is sent to stay with his godfather Quentin on the Radio Rock ship.
• Bill Nighy as Quentin, Carl's godfather, who runs Radio Rock.
• Will Adamsdale as "News" John Mayford, the station's news and weather reporter.
• Tom Brooke as "Thick" Kevin, Carl's intellectually dense cabin-mate and member of the Radio Rock staff.
• Rhys Darby as Angus "The Nut" Nutsford, DJ and lone New Zealander on the ship.
• Nick Frost as DJ "Doctor" Dave, who unsuccessfully attempts to help Carl lose his virginity and later ends up sleeping with Carl's crush Marianne.
• Katherine Parkinson as Felicity, the lesbian cook and the only single woman permitted to live on the ship.
• Chris O'Dowd as "Simple" Simon Swafford, Radio Rock's breakfast DJ who marries the too-good-to-be true Elenore only to learn that she is actually in love with another DJ, Gavin. O'Dowd drew inspiration from Tony Blackburn, the morning DJ on pirate station Radio Caroline in the 1960s, and his Irish contemporary Larry Gogan.
• Tom Wisdom as "Midnight" Mark, Radio Rock's suave nighttime DJ who rarely speaks but nonetheless has female listeners swooning over him. Known as 'The Sexiest Man on the Planet." In a deleted scene on the DVD release, he is shown in his cabin 'entertaining' about 30 naked women who are part of a large group of fans that visit the ship.
• Ralph Brown as hippy "Smooth" Bob Silver, "The Dawn Treader" (3-6am shift), Radio Rock's reclusive early-morn DJ who turns out to be Carl's father.
• Rhys Ifans as Gavin Kavanagh, a massively popular DJ brought out of retirement by Quentin, leading to a professional rivalry with The Count.
• Ike Hamilton as Harold, the station's radio assistant.
• Kenneth Branagh as Sir Alistair Dormandy, a strict government minister who endeavors to shut pirate radio stations down.
• Sinead Matthews as Miss C (aka Miss Clitt, as revealed in the DVD deleted scenes), Dormandy's assistant who secretly listens to Radio Rock.
• Jack Davenport as Domenic Twatt, Dormandy's subordinate who is assigned the task of finding legal loopholes that can be used to shut pirate radio stations down.
• Talulah Riley as Marianne, Quentin's niece, (and a fan of Dave) whom Carl falls instantly in love with.
• Gemma Arterton as Desiree, a female fan Dave attempts to trick into having sex with virgin Carl.
• January Jones as Elenore (referred to as a 'goddess' by Quentin, while acting as 'minister'), who marries Simon as a means of getting to be on the ship with Gavin, whom she is actually in love with, the revelation of which ends the sham marriage after just 17 hours, and causes dissension among the group.
• Emma Thompson as Charlotte, Carl's mother.

Additional minor roles were played by Ian Mercer as the transfer boatman, Stephen Moore as the Prime Minister, Michael Thomas and Bohdan Poraj as Dormandy's subordinates Sandford and Fredericks, Olegar Fedoro as the Radio Rock ship's captain, Francesca Longrigg and Amanda Fairbank-Hynes as Dormandy's wife and daughter, and Olivia Llewellyn as Marianne's friend Margaret who Felicity falls in love with.