New Order - Thieves Like Us - FAC 51 The Haçienda 20th July 1983 Video - Factory FAC 103 Audio

The Haçienda live footage of Thieves Like Us featured in the revered Play At Home documentary.
Peter Hook -
New Order had achieved the holy grail of chart success, artistic independence and critical acclaim, and were continuing to attract the attention of more mainstream media outlets. The band were asked to participate in a Radio 1 event, Rock Around the Clock, as well as being one of several major groups given the opportunity to make their own documentary for Channel 4’s Play at Home strand.
The resulting film was an extraordinary glimpse into the chaotic world of Factory Records, as members of Durutti Column, A Certain Ratio and Section 25 demand to see accounts from Tony Wilson, who is later interviewed naked in the bath by Gillian Gilbert. Meanwhile Rob Gretton interviews himself and Peter Hook interviews Alan Erasmus on the back of a motorbike.
“Our section of the Play at Home documentary was filmed at Alan Erasmus girlfriends farm, which was where we also stored the Factory boat. Yes, we had a Factory boat, an ‘investment’ of course, which as far as I can tell is what you call any ill-advised purchase.
No prizes for guessing what happened to it. That’s right, it sank. Alan took us to see it while we were filming at the farm; it was on/in the river opposite. We all stood there laughing. Really, we should have been alarmed at the metaphor.
We did have a Factory car, too, an old Daimler that Alan had also bought, again as an ‘investment’. That completely disappeared. Nobody knew where it went until years later when they tore down the Haçienda building and discovered that it had been bricked up in one of the renovations, next to a huge pile of over-ordered T-shirts. There it had stayed for years, rusting and gathering dust until the building was finally sold.
We had a great time filming the documentary, and being involved in the writing. As for Tony’s infamous nude interview with Gillian in his bath, he got a warning off Granada TV (his day job) for showing his winkle.
Rob decided to interview himself, which was surreal. He said he was the only man up to the job, fair enough. Barney’s interview with Pete Saville was another highlight, along with Steve’s surreal chat with Martin Hannett, who insisted on a real gun being available for the interview.
He eventually agreed to a blank firer. I think it must have puzzled any viewer more than answered their questions, but hey-ho.