The best UK TV adverts of 2026 so far, ranked

Susan Boyle breakdancing on the Forth Bridge is the image of the year. Irn-Bru’s World Cup anthem topped System1’s ranking of every 2026 World Cup ad with a maximum 5.9 stars, beating adidas, Nike and Coca-Cola, and it did so for a soft drink that is not an official sponsor of anything. That is the bar for this list.

We have ranked the 15 best UK TV adverts launched between January and August 2026. To qualify, a spot had to run on British television or broadcaster VOD in that window, and we had to be able to verify the agency, the director and the launch month. Ranking weighs four things: the strength of the idea, the craft of the film, the evidence it landed (System1 star ratings, Thinkboxes results, view counts, trade reaction) and how far it travelled beyond adland.

Two housekeeping notes. Global campaigns that happened to air here (adidas, Twix) are excluded, as are social-only films like Jellycat’s Wimbledon clip. And the year is not over: the Christmas season will rewrite this list, which is why the title says “so far”.

The best TV adverts of 2026 so far, ranked

15. Three UK: Let Fun In (2026)

An eleven-year-old figure skater takes to the ice in front of a stony panel of judges, her costume inflates into a chicken suit, and the routine turns joyful. Wonderhood Studios wrote it, Lucy Forbes directed through Smuggler, and it launched in August to a Billy Idol track. The strategy is that modern life leaves no room for spontaneity and Three lets you take the handbrake off.

It is a slight idea rescued by casting and timing, and it made the July/August Thinkboxes shortlist. Crown verdict: a telecoms ad you can describe in one sentence, which is rarer than it should be.

14. TK Maxx: Every day can be iconic (2026)

A cat wearing a red leather loafer on its head becomes a fashion icon after its owner posts the picture. Wieden & Kennedy London’s film, directed by Andreas Nilsson through Biscuit Filmworks, launched in late February and had passed 650,000 YouTube views by the end of August. The point is that style and value can go together and that everyday styling can be as glamorous as you want it.

The cat sells that better than any model would, and it was shortlisted for the March/April Thinkboxes. Crown verdict: wonderfully weird, and it knows exactly what it is selling.

13. Hawkstone: A year’s graft in every pint (2026)

Jeremy Clarkson’s lager finally got a commercial past the regulators, and it aired on 18 June in the break before England’s World Cup opener against Croatia. The & Partnership’s 40-second film, directed by Kit Lynch-Robinson, has Kaleb Cooper diving in slow motion to save a falling pint while the farm-to-glass process plays out around him.

System1 scored it 4.8 stars with the general public and 5.9 with beer drinkers, placing it in the top 3 per cent of UK beer and cider ads. Crown verdict: a debut that leans on celebrity without being about the celebrity.

12. McCain: The Dad Joke Effect (2026)

Adam&eveTBWA’s latest for McCain, directed by Jim Archer through MindsEye, launched in May and does what the brand has done for a decade: it is about getting on with your kids, over chips. The dad joke is the mechanism, the groan is the reward, and the product sits at the centre of the table rather than in a pack shot.

More About Advertising made it Ad of the Week on 22 May and it was shortlisted for the May/June Thinkboxes. Crown verdict: consistency is a creative strategy, and McCain proves it every year.

11. EE: Yes Boys (2026)

Saatchi & Saatchi’s 60-second film, set to Underworld’s “Born Slippy”, launched on TV and BVOD on 1 June ahead of the World Cup and argues that football can counter the toxic content boys see online. EE’s research with Professor Ben Hine found that 42 per cent of boys encounter content promoting toxic masculinity every week.

System1 gave it 4.8 stars overall and the maximum 5.9 with Gen Z men, the audience it was made for. The film is more montage than story, which costs it places. Crown verdict: purpose with a media plan behind it, and a rare one that reached the people it was about.

10. Dulux: Life is what you paint it (2026)

Sixty-five years after a crew member’s dog photobombed a shoot, the Dulux Old English Sheepdog is back. Ogilvy UK’s film, directed by Si&Ad through Academy Films, launched on 24 March and introduces Dorothy, a puppy who can shake paint colours from her coat and grows up alongside her owner’s milestones.

The insight, per Decision Marketing, is that marriage and children now come later, so the brand celebrates the milestones people actually have. It made the March/April Thinkboxes shortlist. Crown verdict: a mascot revival done with warmth rather than nostalgia.

9. The AA: Pinky (2026)

A family races to the vet with a dying hamster, the car gives out in the middle of nowhere, and the AA patrol arrives with the emotional commitment of a paramedic. The Gate London wrote it under chief creative officer Lucas Peon, Guy Shelmerdine directed through Smuggler, and it launched in August under the “It’s OK, I’m with The AA” platform.

System1 called it the first 4-star ad it had tested in the car services category, at 4.6, and the brand’s YouTube upload passed four million views within three weeks. Crown verdict: melodrama in service of a breakdown truck, and it works.

8. Paddy Power: Nobody does football better than us (2026)

Rob Lowe makes the case for American football culture: fireworks, cheerleaders, 4K kiss cams. Danny Dyer answers with flying pints, topless fans and a proper chant, with Peter Crouch and Mick McCarthy in cameo. BBH London’s 60-second film, directed by Max Barden through Anonymous Content, broke during the Champions League final on 30 May and ran to the World Cup final on 19 July.

Decision Marketing gave it 10 out of 10 and it finished second in the May/June Thinkboxes. Crown verdict: a betting ad that never mentions betting, and is funnier for it.

7. Warburtons: 150 Years in the Baking (2026)

Morgan Freeman narrates five generations of a Bolton bakery in a two-minute film that premiered during The Masked Singer on ITV on 11 February. Joyful & Triumphant wrote it, Declan Lowney directed through Merman, and Mindshare planned the media. The trick is that Freeman plays it straight while the family plays it for laughs, and the closing shot of a grandfather cradling a newborn in his bakery whites earns its sentiment.

The hero film had passed 2.5 million YouTube views by the end of August. Crown verdict: the best of the Warburtons Hollywood series since Peter Kay.

6. Cadbury: Homesick (2026)

The year’s first great ad arrived on 15 January. An older sister in Kuala Lumpur opens a care package from home and finds a Dairy Milk bar with a chunk missing, the wrapper held together with an alien sticker: her little brother’s doing. VCCP’s creatives Emma Jackson and Aly Lane wrote it, Steve Rogers directed through Biscuit, and the film sits inside the “There’s a glass and a half in everyone” platform that took the IPA Effectiveness Grand Prix.

Nothing is said about loneliness. It is all in the missing chunk. Crown verdict: the quietest ad on this list and the one most likely to still be running in 2030.

The top five

5. Tesco: The Fruit Giant (2026)

Plumbert is a giant made of 105,000 individual pieces of fruit and vegetables, built over six months at Untold Studios, who walks the country giving pieces of himself to schools and shrinking as he goes. BBH London’s film, directed by Nick Ball through MJZ and set to Supertramp’s “Give a little bit”, launched in late April to announce that Tesco was doubling its free fruit and veg programme to more than 1,000 schools.

It made the March/April Thinkboxes shortlist, where BBH’s Uche Ezugwu called it a cinematic joy. Crown verdict: a corporate responsibility story told with the budget and craft of a Christmas ad.

4. Anchor: Let’s get absolutely buttered (2026)

A woman eats a buttered crumpet on a canal lock, in bliss, while her narrowboat sinks behind her. Two kids on bikes deliver the diagnosis: she’s been on the double churned, she’s absolutely buttered. Havas London’s first work for the brand, directed by Andrew Gaynord through MindsEye with media by Carat, launched on 5 May and turned a product feature (double churning) into a state of mind.

Creative Salon has the credits, and the Thinkboxes judges placed it third for May/June. Crown verdict: the best pun-led positioning of the year, and the crumpet looks incredible.

3. BBC: What has the BBC ever done for me? (2026)

Romesh Ranganathan walks out of the Queen Vic and through the whole corporation, meeting more than 90 stars from Claudia Winkleman to Chris McCausland, in a four-minute film that aired at half-time in the World Cup final on 19 July. BBC Creative made it, Dougal Wilson directed through Blink, and it reworks the 1986 John Cleese spot that asked the same question in a pub. Ben Foster, Ben Bailey Smith and Andy Burrows wrote the score, performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra.

It was called smug and toe-curling by the usual suspects and defended as a necessary case for the licence fee during charter review; Decision Marketing scored it 9 out of 10. System1 put it in the top quartile at 3.4 stars, with 18 to 34s responding best. Crown verdict: the most argued-about ad of the year, which was the point.

2. Volkswagen: 50 years of pure passion (2026)

Fifty years of Golf GTI owners, told through the cameras of each decade: cine film in the 1970s, camcorder in the 1990s, disposable cameras, then vertical phone video, ending on the Edition 50. Bernbach (the agency until recently known as adam&eveDDB) made it under group executive creative director Ben Tollett, Billy Boyd Cape directed through Academy Films, and it launched in July with Candi Staton’s “You Got the Love” and a modern remix carrying the transition.

System1 gave it 5.9 stars, the first car ad to reach its maximum score, and Ads of the World has the full credits. The film never mentions horsepower. Crown verdict: the most effective car ad ever tested, and it earns the claim by putting people before metal.

1. Irn-Bru: We’re made in Scotland from girders (2026)

Scotland qualified for a World Cup for the first time in 28 years and Lucky Generals treated the brief like a record release. The film is a music video for a football anthem built from the 1980s “Made in Scotland from girders” line. John McGinn, Alex Kapranos, Paul Black, May Miller and dozens of Tartan Army fans sing their way through TSA security, oversized hot dogs and Americans claiming Scottish grandmothers, and Susan Boyle sings from the top of the Forth Bridge before breakdancing.

Grandmas directed through Academy, the7stars planned a phased launch from airport posters to ITV, and the official video went live on 2 June, passing 5.3 million views by the end of August. The track went out on Spotify and vinyl as if it were a real single, because for a month it was.

The results are unambiguous. System1 gave it the maximum 5.9 stars and ranked it first among all 2026 World Cup ads. It won the May/June Thinkboxes, where creative director Danny Hunt told Campaign that the rule for casting was simple: everyone had to add to the joke. Crown verdict: a regional soft drink out-thought every global sponsor, and the nation can still sing the chorus.

How we ranked these

Idea and evidence outweighed craft and scale. Irn-Bru and Volkswagen both hit System1’s ceiling and both won or led their categories, which is why they sit above bigger productions. The BBC film ranks third because reach and argument matter as much as star ratings for a public broadcaster fighting for its funding. Below that, we favoured spots with a repeatable thought (a hamster, a butter-drunk woman, a shrinking giant) over montage.

Campaigns we could not fully credit or that arrived too late to judge, including Kopparberg’s “Bring Me Sunshine” from Neverland, Tango’s revived “You know when you’ve been Tangoed” from VCCP and Confused.com’s puppet cows from Leo UK, were considered but ranked below the fifteen above. We will revisit the list in December, when the Christmas ads have had their say.