The shots of a young Cillian Murphy staggering across a deserted Westminster Bridge in 28 Days Later are among the most iconic scenes in British cinema. But some eerily similar footage was used to promote a pop single in 1984.
The Human League were one of the biggest bands in Britain at the time, having enjoyed recent hits (Keep Feeling) Fascination and the still-anthemic chart-topper Don't You Want Me.
Their next wave of singles, from the album Hysteria, would not scale quite the same heights, but still got plenty of airplay. Among them was the song Life on Your Own.
Singer Phil Oakey is the equivalent of Cillian Murphy, roaming a deserted London as though he's the last man on Earth (other than some mannequins and the ghosts of his bandmates). The most impressive shot has him roaming across London Wall, complete with abandoned cars and litter-strewn pavements (though, to be fair, that's pretty much how we remember the 1980s). It's a scene that could be straight out of 28 Days Later:
For comparison, below is the scene today, from roughly the same location. The concrete 'pedway' bridge has been replaced by something more elegant.
Oakey-bloke's peregrinations take him to a number of other London landmarks. The shoot's location manager definitely earned their wages for this one:
Leadenhall Market: The solitary singer takes a brief stop in the famous City market, where he promptly hurls a stone through a window. The git.
Arding and Hobbs: Oakey wanders into the clock tower of this Edwardian department store in Clapham Junction. It's easily identified, thanks to the bright neon sign on the side. Furnishings within suggest that he's now living here.
Chancery Lane Tube station: Our lonely man next descends into the Tube. A quickly flashed sign suggests this is Chancery Lane, and the shots resemble that ticket hall. He finds and drinks a discarded bottle of orange juice on the floor, because this is how he lives now.
Tower Bridge: The most easily identified location. Kudos to the League, though, for managing to film it without any tourists in shot. Oakey must be a very early riser for a pop star.
White City Stadium: The main venue for the 1908 London Olympics, this west London landmark would be demolished just months after the video shoot.
Life on Your Own was itself inspired by an earlier movie. 1971 film The Omega Man sees Charlton Heston doing similar things on the streets of a plague-abandoned LA, albeit with shorter hair and fewer synth-drum loops.
