Detective, superhero, Mandela... and now hucksterish TV shopping salesman. Idris Elba can do it all - as he demonstrates in Jamie-James Medina's bright, breezy and multi-layered video for Big Talk, the actor's collab with Manchester producer duo Solardo.

In the video, Idris is the charismatic host of BIG TALK, broadcasting live on lo-fi cams from a basement studio. As Solardo and two girls man the phones, he is delivering an evangelistic sermon for the financially interested - and his financial advice is entirely based around the mysterious substance of Ambergris - the unique form of waste product created by whales that can be used in making perfume.

Medina employs some familiar devices of the shopping channel aesthetic, camerawork, stock footage, in-camera FX and titles - merging with 80s/90s music video greenscreen FX. But within the visual fun, there is something rather more serious going on. The insidiousness of the host and his message is where Idris comes into his own, enabling him to get his teeth into the character.   

As Jamie-James Medina explained in his treatment for the video: "Idris is the host of BIG TALK - a little show about BIG ideas. He produces a weekly sermon for the financially interested. He is part financial advisor, part spiritual guru. And all hustler. Beneath the views on the day’s business news, our host is operating a surreal and dangerous game of deception.

"On this broadcast, he seems to only be interested in one very specific natural resource: ambergris aka whale vomit. In its purest form, the intestinal slurry can be found bobbing through the ocean, where it slowly hardens under the sun. Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick, described the smell of whale’s vomit as 'a faint stream of perfume.' It is this stream — the crystalized ambergris — that washes ashore and has become a highly coveted perfume ingredient, used to fix scent to skin. Indeed, a group of fishermen in Yemen stumbled upon a small chunk of the stuff in the belly of a dead whale in 2021, which they sold for $1.5 million.

"Our host looks into the camera and says, 'If you’re ready to storm the beaches in search of AMBERGRIS, then I have a deal for you! Call us right now on 0898-BIG-T£LK!' 

As the track continues to bang, we watch as the host pulls a brick of ambergris from his pocket and delivers a verse from Melville’s Moby Dick."

A message on the dangers of human greed wrapped up into an alluring package - and it's a banging track. What more could you want?