It is widely accepted that new drugs, especially antibiotics, are urgently required, and that the most propitious source remains natural products. We argue that in exploring new sources of bioactive natural products the marine environment warrants particular attention, in view of the remarkable diversity of microorganisms and metabolic products. Recent reports of new chemical entities and first-in-class drug candidates, and confirmation of indigenous marine actinobacteria, make exciting discoveries even more likely given the unrivalled capacity of this class of bacteria to produce exploitable natural products.