Synopsis

Heaven 17 perform in stark, shadowy surroundings that give the video a distinctly German Expressionist atmosphere. Glenn Gregory appears as an imposing, theatrical figure presiding over an unsettling office-like encounter with a woman played by Gillian de Terville. Initially restrained and uneasy, she gradually adopts a more confident, glamorous persona as the song builds. The staging turns the track's themes of desire, control and sexual tension into a stylized performance piece, punctuated by Gregory's dramatic gestures and the woman's increasingly assertive presence.

Factoids & Trivia

• The woman seen in the video is actress and model Gillian de Terville, not the singer heard on the record. De Terville lip-syncs Carol Kenyon's vocal part.

• Carol Kenyon did not appear in the promotional video following a disagreement over the fee offered for her appearance. She did, however, perform the song with Heaven 17 on television.

• The single was released on April 8, 1983, and became Heaven 17's biggest UK hit, reaching No. 2.

• "Temptation" was built around a large-scale arrangement that included a 60-piece orchestra, an unusual addition to a synth-pop production.

• Martyn Ware described the song's musical idea as a constantly rising structure inspired by an M.C. Escher staircase. The lyric also draws on the phrase "lead us not into temptation" from the Lord's Prayer.

• The track began as a demo recorded in Glenn Gregory's front room using a Casiotone. Its studio construction eventually involved synchronized electronic equipment and 46 tracks of music.