Take That - Do What You Like

What this video is

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…

Why it matters

Documents the embryonic stage of the UK boy band genre before it was codified by major label investment. The video's provocative, low-budget aesthetic contrasts sharply with the polished productions that defined Take That's peak years and demonstrates how tabloid notoriety functioned as a…

The director

Rosemary 'Ro' Barratt (née Newton) was a presenter on BBC2's The Old Grey Whistle Test (1985–1987) and a BBC Radio 1 broadcaster, later transitioning into music video direction. Angie Smith was a director affiliated with MTV Europe in the early 1990s; per a…