Vikki Stone's freely adapted version of the once notorious seafaring broadcaster's history is a terrific premise for delivering a string of 60s hits. A pirate radio station is a clever subject for a jukebox musical, and none is more famous than Radio Caroline, whose revolutionary broadcasts from a boat off the Essex coast launched a culture war with the British government.
Stone has partly fictionalised the story, with characters only tangentially based on real people like Tony Blackburn and Ronan O'Rahilly. Instead, we have Robbie, a young man whose love of pop lands him a DJ job, and his childhood sweetheart Caroline, who supports his dreams until she finds herself losing him to the boat of the same name. A talented actor-musician cast delivers the show with rebellious energy, and Jake Halsey-Jones and Claire Lee Shenfield, as Robbie and Caroline, match an endearing chemistry with charming vocal performances.
Numbers by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Kinks and more showcase the ensemble's multifarious instrumental skills, perkily choreographed. The Beach Boys' 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' comes with magnificent backing vocals, and there's a glorious 'Twist and Shout' that literally rocks the boat. However, the narrative needs tightening; we spend much time watching the pirate station's founders, Declan and Kitty, laboriously talk through their fight to keep the boat afloat. Few musicals can have made so much mention of the Isle of Man's legislative body, Tynwald.
As the caustically uptight postmaster general seeking to sink their business, Gareth Cooper punctuates the longueurs with valuable comic relief, decrying American materialism. Stella Backman's design, with its seaside bench and rusting pier, underscores the story's empathy for the 'ordinary' Caroline that this 60s music was meant for. An opening prologue mentioning Spotify, Napster and MP3s aims to place the episode within a people's history of music, with a few mentions of free speech. But it's never quite clear what point Stone's show is trying to make – except that pirates have all the best tunes.
