A 30s video advert was produced for the release of the Absent Friends album, although we do not know if it was actually used and broadcast, or remained unused. It was a few years later that production company A-Vision UK, and director Dennis Madden uploaded it on vimeo [1]. It features extracts from 'Absent Friends', 'Charmed Life' and 'Come Home Billy Bird' accompanied by video scenes of Neil Hannon filmed in the same places where the photo artworks for Come Home Billy Bird and Absent Friends were taken, that's to say by the sea and in a Georgian house at 12 Henrietta Street, Dublin. In those scenes Neil is seen lip-syncing, so perhaps those scenes were first considered as a potential music video.

If more of those filmed footages still exist, that would be greatly appreciated to see them, hence such a video would make a more immersive experience into the visual universe of the album.

[1] Dennis Madden's video portfolio