Synopsis

Rik Mayall plays the hard-boiled private detective Peter Gunn in this comic film-noir pastiche. A mysterious woman in red, a jewel heist, suspicious characters, and Duane Eddy's instantly recognizable guitar all drive the action. The Art of Noise appear as part of the stylized world, while the video exaggerates the genre's shadows, danger, and melodrama for deliberately absurd effect. The result is a playful 1980s update of the classic detective archetype, built around the group's electronic reworking of Henry Mancini's famous television theme.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was released in 1986 to accompany The Art of Noise's version of Henry Mancini's "Peter Gunn" theme, featuring guitarist Duane Eddy.

• Rik Mayall portrays Peter Gunn. The role predates his best-known television characters in "The New Statesman," "Blackadder," and "Bottom."

• Charlotte Weston appears as the Woman in Red, a classic film-noir figure connected to the video's jewel-heist storyline.

• The production runs for approximately five minutes and was made in the United Kingdom.

• The single became one of The Art of Noise's best-known recordings, reaching No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart and earning the group a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

• The video is remembered less as a conventional performance clip than as a parody of private-eye movies, with Mayall's comic presence deliberately undercutting the tough-guy atmosphere.

• The recording appeared on the 1986 album "In Visible Silence," the first Art of Noise album made after the group's original lineup had split.