Actually (stylised as Pet Shop Boys, actually.) is the second studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 7 September 1987 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom and by EMI Manhattan in North America. According to Neil Tennant and music historian Wayne Studer, Actually loosely critiques Thatcherism, the political zeitgeist of the 1980s, and was recorded in anticipation of Margaret Thatcher's re-election. Release and promotion Actually was released on 7 September 1987 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom and by EMI Manhattan in the United States and Canada. In television commercials for the release, Lowe and Tennant were shown in black tie, blank-faced against a white background. The former seems unimpressed by a radio DJ-style Alan 'Fluff' Freeman voiceover listing their previous hits and new singles from Actually, while the latter eventually "gets bored" and yawns, with the image then freezing to create, roughly, the album's cover shot. Actually spawned four UK top 10 singles: the number-one single "It's a Sin", "Rent", "What Have I Done to Deserve This?"—a duet with fellow Parlophone artist Dusty Springfield, which peaked at number two in both the UK and US and led to a resurgence of interest in Springfield's earlier work—and another UK number one in April 1988 with a remixed version of the song "Heart". During this period Pet Shop Boys also completed a full-length motion picture called It Couldn't Happen Here. Featuring songs by the duo, it was most famous for containing the video for "Always on My Mind" (starring Joss Ackland as a blind priest), which—while not on Actually—was released as a single during this period. Actually was re-released in 2001 (as were most of the duo's albums up to that point) as Actually/Further Listening 1987–1988. The reissue was digitally remastered and included a second disc of B-sides, remixes done by Pet Shop Boys and previously unreleased material from around the time of the album's original release. Another re-release followed on 9 February 2009 under the title of Actually: Remastered, containing only the 10 tracks of the original release. With the 2009 re-release, the 2001 two-disc reissue was discontinued. On 2 March 2018, a new remastered two-disc Actually/Further Listening edition was released; the content remains the same as the 2001 edition. Critical reception Actually was well received by critics. In December 1987, Robert Christgau of The Village Voice praised it as "actual pop music with something actual