Take That — Do What You Like

JUL 01 1991 · 12:00

Take That — Do What You Like (1991) Director: Rosemary 'Ro' Barratt (née Newton) & Angie Smith Era: Early UK Boy Band Era (1991) - Pre-mainstream debut single from Manchester five-piece on independent Dance UK label, preceding the British pop explosion of 1992–1996 Exceptional. This video is one of the most historically documented low-budget UK pop music videos of the early 1990s, with verified production details, confirmed directorial credits, and extensive retrospective coverage. It captures Take That at their pre-fame nadir — unknown, independent, and willing to do anything for attention — and is a foundational document for the study of 1990s British boy band culture, regional pop infrastructure, and provocateur marketing. The existence of both a sanitised and uncensored cut adds additional archival interest. Context: Released July 1991 on Nigel Martin-Smith's independent Dance UK label, 'Do What You Like' is historically significant as the debut single of what would become one of Britain's best-selling pop acts. The video was a deliberate, low-budget provocation strategy: co-director Angie Smith designed the jelly-and-nudity concept explicitly to generate tabloid press for an unknown act with no major label backing. Its daytime broadcast ban paradoxically amplified notoriety, making it a landmark example of controversy-as-marketing in British pop. The video predates Take That's mainstream breakthrough by over a year and documents the raw, scrappy origins of the 1990s UK boy band phenomenon that would reshape British pop culture through 1993–1997. Its £5,000 production cost and Vector Television studio location in Stockport exemplify the regional, grassroots infrastructure of early Manchester pop. Director notes: Shot on 21 June 1991 at Vector Television studios in Heaton Mersey, Stockport, on a documented budget of approximately £5,000. The video features the band in black bondage-style costumes with silver studs engaging in choreographed routines before stripping down and participating in a food fight involving jelly, foam custard, Mini Milk ice lollies, mops, and tiny towels. The concept was designed by Smith specifically to generate press coverage for the then-unknown band. The video was banned from daytime television broadcast but was screened on Pete Waterman's late-night ITV programme The Hitman and Her. A sanitised version and an uncensored version both exist. Band manager Nigel Martin-Smith facilitated a press event at the shoot location.