Julian Barratt's spoof song as his Mindhorn character
A deliriously sexy piece of 80s "erotic power-rock" from Mindhorn's Richard Thorncroft, titled You Can't Handcuff The Wind, has been unearthed ahead of the film's release
The film of the week is undoubtedly Mindhorn, a wonderfully daft comedy starring Julian Barratt as Richard Thorncroft, the actor from a long-forgotten 80s detective series in the vein of Bergerac, who resurrects the character to help solve a real-life crime on the Isle of Man. Over the film’s closing credits, we get a snippet of the unsuccessful music career Thorncroft tried to launch off the back of his low-level TV show stardom, and delightfully, ahead of the film’s release on 5 May, Barratt has released the full single, titled You Can't Handcuff The Wind, complete with 80s-tastic video.
Here's the information we have on Richard Thorncroft and You Can't Handcuff The Wind as provided in its 1989 press release, provided via fax (obvs):
You Can't Handcuff The Wind is taken from Richard Thorncroft's debut vinyl LP The Unadorned Truth, and Melody Maker described it as “a song for the 80s and beyond”. It sees Thorncroft, who was voted sexiest TV detective two years running in 1988 and 1989 by the Radio Times, spread his creative wings. “Acting is my wife.” says Thorncroft. “But music is my hot mistress.”
In saying that, Thorncroft does see acting and performing his music as being very similar: “it’s just challenging emotions through my face.”
How to describe the song? “I like to think of it as erotic power-rock,” Thorncroft says while astride his Suzuki Katana.
Make no mistake. The video for You Can't Handcuff The Wind is erotic, steamy and robust (and has been banned in Lithuania for breaking their decency laws).
This album could see Thorncroft move all his attentions to music, says the 1989 press release. “Music is like a river you have to immerse yourself in fully before you can swim,” says Thorncroft. “I’d only dipped my toes in, now I’m naked and plunging into new shimmering depths. Why not join me?”
Take a look at the video in the player above, and read our review of Mindhorn and our interview with Julian Barratt from our May issue. We've also included the original press release for You Can't Handcuff The Wind below for you to enjoy.