Irish IT Crowd actor Chris O'Dowd received a masterclass from Chris Evans and Chris Moyles on how to play a DJ in new Radio Caroline-inspired movie The Boat That Rocked.

The Diary thinks O'Dowd could have done as well talking to fellow Irishman Garret O'Callaghan.

Now the host of 4FM's Breakfast Show, back in the 1980s Garret was a real life pirate DJ on Radio Caroline broadcasting to Europe from a boat on the North Sea. But was there really as much high-jinks on the high seas as there is in the new movie?

"Yes, there was," said O'Callaghan. "The longer you stayed on that boat, the madder you became. There was a lot of hash and boats showing up on pleasure trips from the Dutch coast with women on them. Things were so bad that when the station engineer brought his girlfriend on board for one trip, he threatened the DJs with a shotgun to stay away from her."

The Irish premiere of The Boat That Rocked takes place in Cineworld on Wednesday night.

To mark the occasion that same day, Today FM will try to replicate Radio Caroline by broadcasting from a boat on the Liffey, the MV Cill Airne, where shows by Ian Dempsey, Ray D'Arcy, Ray Foley and Tony Fenton will feature interviews with cast members Nick Frost, Chris O'Dowd, Bill Nighy and writer Richard Curtis.

It seems fitting, as Today FM's programme controller, Tom Hardy, is another Radio Caroline veteran.