Waitrose Christmas advert 2026: Keira Knightley and Joe Wilkinson return in The Perfect Gift 2

Waitrose has turned last year’s Christmas romcom into a franchise. The Perfect Gift 2, released this morning, brings back Keira Knightley as herself and Joe Wilkinson as Phil, the man she fell for at a Waitrose cheese counter in 2025. At almost six minutes it is two minutes longer than the original, and Waitrose says it is the longest advert a UK supermarket has made.

The work

A year on, Keira is about to marry someone else: Hugo Bunty-Griffin, a vain groom played by Alex Hassell. Phil’s friends push him to bake the beef Wellington of his life and get it to the wedding, and he arrives with a jar labelled “Marry Me Instead?”. Keira leaves her own wedding, runs through a Waitrose in her dress and proposes to Phil with a cheeseboard ring, as Decision Marketing reported.

Wonderhood Studios made the film again, with Bafta-winning director Molly Manners. It has an original score recorded by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and ends on Jennifer Rush’s The Power of Love. MG OMD is running the media, which covers the long-form film, trailers, cinema, radio, social, outdoor and stores.

Nathan Ansell, chief customer officer at Waitrose, said the brand had “significantly raised the creative and production stakes by extending the mini-film by two minutes”. He said the aim was “emotional brand love and strong commercial momentum”.

Why it matters

The Perfect Gift was the standout Christmas advert of last year, and it topped our Christmas adverts 2025 ranking. System1 gave it its maximum 5.9 stars, with 94% of viewers knowing it was for Waitrose, and Ipsos tracking had it as the public’s favourite Christmas ad. Following that with a sequel rather than a new idea is the right call.

It is also a rare one. Christmas advertising has plenty of returning characters, with Aldi’s Kevin the Carrot now in his 11th year, but a sequel that picks up the same story with the same stars, a year later, is new for a supermarket. It gives people a reason to go looking for the film, and Waitrose is building the release like a cinema launch, with trailers ahead of it.

The food is the plot rather than a cutaway, and the Wellington and the jar do the selling. The risk is the running time, because few people will sit through six minutes on television. System1 found last year’s one-minute cut scored almost as well as the full film, though, so the shorter versions should carry the romance.

Wonderhood also made Waitrose’s fine Dine In campaign in October. See every UK Christmas advert of 2026 so far, with the films, updated as each one launches.