Christmas adverts 2026: every UK Christmas advert so far, with the films

This is every UK Christmas advert of 2026 so far, in one place, with the films. Each entry has the brand’s own upload, the credits we could stand up and a short verdict, and the big ones link through to our full review or news story. We update the page as each new advert launches, so the newest films are always at the top.

The season started early, with Debenhams in mid-October, and the main wave broke on Sunday 1 November when Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Argos all went live within hours of each other. John Lewis followed on 3 November, M&S, The National Lottery, Amazon and JD Sports all launched on 6 November, Morrisons arrived on 8 November, Disney and Oxfam on 9 November, and Waitrose returned with its sequel on 10 November. For the all-time greats, see the 25 best Christmas adverts ever made, and for last year’s field, Christmas adverts 2025, ranked.

Last updated: 10 November 2026.

Every 2026 Christmas advert at a glance

Our picks so far

Three films stand out, and our Crown Scores agree on the order. John Lewis’s Gloria and Pickles has the highest score we have given this season, for the sharpest strategy the retailer has put on screen in years: stop giving cash, give a proper present. It also earned 5.6 Stars from System1, the brand’s best result since 2019, as Marketing Week reported.

Argos’s Tales of Argos Past is second and is the funniest film of the year, with Richard Ayoade turning the catalogue nostalgia that holds the brand back into the thing that sells it. Arsenal’s ‘Twas the Season is third, thanks to Colin Firth, a neat double meaning and the best single gag of the season. Outside our scored reviews, keep an eye on Very and Thatchers, which both report 5.9 Stars in System1 testing.

Week of 9 November

Waitrose: The Perfect Gift 2

Agency: Wonderhood Studios; Director: Molly Manners; Music: The Power of Love, Jennifer Rush; Launched: 10 November.

Keira Knightley is about to marry Hugo Bunty-Griffin, a vain groom played by Alex Hassell, so Joe Wilkinson’s heartbroken Phil is pushed by his friends to bake the best beef Wellington of his life and race it to the wedding. He crashes in with a jar of sauce labelled “Marry Me Instead?”, and Keira ends up proposing to him with a cheeseboard ring. The sequel is two minutes longer than last year’s film and is the longest advert ever made by a UK supermarket, as Decision Marketing reported.

Our view: turning last year’s hit into a sequel is the boldest bit of brand building in the field, because it gives people a reason to go looking for the film. The food is the plot rather than a cutaway, so the Wellington and the jar do the selling. Nearly six minutes is a big ask, though, and the shorter TV cuts will have to carry the romance on their own. Read the story.

Oxfam: The List

Agency: Happy Hour; Director: Nick Ball; Launched: 9 November.

Nine-year-old Neel writes his Christmas list and lets it go from his balcony on a balloon, and when neighbours find it they sew, mend and shop second hand to make every gift. Only on Christmas Day, when he carries the presents next door to a young mum and her daughter, does the film reveal who the list was for, as Decision Marketing reported. It invites viewers to write an alternative Christmas list of donations, charity gifts and pre-loved buys.

Our view: it plays the same trick as Shelter, borrowing the grammar of the season and then turning it, but it lands as generous rather than guilt-tripping. Making second-hand shopping part of the plot ties the film neatly to what Oxfam actually sells.

Disney: The Invisible Horse

Agency: adam&eve\TBWA; Director: Dougal Wilson, Blinkink; Music: a reworked Oo-De-Lally from Robin Hood; Launched: 9 November.

Jack thinks he has outgrown Christmas until an invisible horse befriends him, and its presence is built from hoofprints in the snow, shifting furniture and Jack’s reactions rather than any visible creature. Woody and Elsa make cameos, and the three-minute film is the centrepiece of Disney’s global Make the Holidays Magic campaign, as B&T reported. Dougal Wilson takes over from Taika Waititi, who directed Disney’s previous two holiday shorts.

Our view: a creature you never see is a clever inversion for the director of so many John Lewis favourites, and the practical effects keep it warm rather than glossy. The cameos feel like a line in the brief, because the horse does not need them.

Week of 2 November

Morrisons: Christmas Made Just Right

Agency: Leo UK; Director: Nick Ball; Launched: 8 November (online), with its TV debut on 9 November.

Animatronic Mummy and Daddy Bear get ready to welcome their grown-up son and his new girlfriend home for Christmas, in a modern take on Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Daddy Bear heads to Morrisons Market Street, where the bakers, butchers, fishmongers and deli staff help him build the feast, enormous salmon included, and the girlfriend turns out to be Goldilocks, as Grocery Gazette reported. The 90-second film airs for the first time at 9.15pm on 9 November across ITV, Channel 4, Five and Sky.

Our view: a fairy tale about getting things just right is a tidy fit for a grocer selling quality, and the counter staff give Morrisons a story the discounters cannot tell. The bears are a welcome change from a season of celebrity casting, though the film needs its full 90 seconds to land the Goldilocks reveal. Read the story.

JD Sports: Create The New

Agency: Uncommon; Director: The Reid Brothers; Music: Not Over Yet, Grace and Paul Oakenfold; Launched: 6 November.

More than 25 names from sport, music and fashion, including Ferran Torres, Lauren James, Sammy Virji and Skye Newman, are shown making new things together, from Torres working with designer Antonia Bronze to musicians building a track in a makeshift kitchen studio. It builds on JD’s Forever Forward platform and swaps festive nostalgia for what comes next, as Marketing Week reported.

Our view: dropping Christmas almost entirely is a confident call, and the casting is exactly right for JD’s audience. Without a single idea to hang it on, though, it plays more like a brilliant brand reel than a Christmas advert anyone will quote. Read the story.

M&S: The Home of Christmas

Agency: Mother; Director: Shannon Murphy, Smuggler; Music: Heaven Is a Place on Earth, performed by Katherine Jenkins; Launched: 6 November.

James Norton plays a Santa who shaves off his beard to experience Christmas incognito, after a push from Lucy Punch’s Mrs Claus, and ends up discovering everything M&S sells. It is the first M&S Christmas campaign since 2017 to put food, fashion, home and beauty in one film, as Creative Review reported, and it runs for three minutes.

Our view: the comic opening between Punch and Norton is what lifts it above a catalogue, and one story for every category is the right brief for a retailer that wants shoppers to see all of it at once. The risk is that a film trying to sell everything loses the precision of This is not just food.

Amazon: Joy Delivered

Agency: Amazon in-house creative team; Director: Mark Molloy, Smuggler; Music: a bespoke rendition of The Beatles’ Golden Slumbers; Launched: 6 November (UK TV).

Joy, played by Kate Laidler, has her Christmas Eve flight cancelled and makes it home on the kindness of strangers, handing each of them one of the Amazon parcels she had packed for her family, until only her mother’s gift is left. The film was shot in New Zealand and runs in 30, 60 and 90-second versions until the end of December, as Retail Gazette reported.

Our view: the parcel as a currency of kindness is a smart way for a delivery business to tell a feelings story without a product montage. Golden Slumbers, with its line about getting back homeward, does a lot of the work.

The National Lottery: This Christmas It Could Be You

Agency: VCCP; Voice: Claudia Winkleman; Launched: 6 November.

A reindeer watches a robin take off and dreams of flying, fails, keeps trying and finally makes it, while a rambler who sees it happen reaches for his ticket. It is Allwyn’s biggest Christmas campaign for The National Lottery and the first to put the whole portfolio under one festive platform, Marketing Week reported.

Our view: a perseverance fable is a sensible fit for a brand that sells hope, and Winkleman’s sign-off gives it a recognisable voice. It is gentle rather than memorable, though, and it lands in the week the big retailers are shouting loudest.

Liverpool FC: Nice One

Launched: 6 November.

Liverpool’s biggest brand campaign to date is a thank you to its supporters, featuring players from the men’s and women’s teams alongside fans in Liverpool and official supporters’ clubs around the world. It runs across digital and social, with outdoor in 24 cities including Tokyo, Paris and Belfast, as Marketing Week reported.

Our view: the decision to drop tinsel and Santa hats is deliberate, and it makes this a brand platform that happens to launch at Christmas. Set it beside Arsenal’s film below and you can see how differently two clubs read the season.

LEGO: The LEGO Holiday Workshop

Agency: Our LEGO Agency (in-house); Director: Michael Gracey; Music: One More Time, Daft Punk; Launched: 5 November.

A single red 2×4 brick travels through a secret workshop, picking up powers from Marvel characters and race-car speed from the Vehicles department before it becomes a present. Daft Punk minifigures lead the crew, and the film ends with them pressed against a family’s window, unable to let the gift go.

Our view: it is a showroom disguised as a story, with every department standing in for a product range. The joke about adults keeping the sets is the sharpest thing in it, and the brick just about holds a very crowded cast together. Read the story.

Barbour: Wallace and Gromit

Agency: Aardman; Director: Steve Harding-Hill; Launched: 5 November.

Wallace and Gromit return for a second Barbour Christmas, with a festive walk that goes wrong thanks to a new invention, the Walk-o-matic, a chair on wheels made from Barbour wellingtons, as Marketing Week described. Gromit comes to the rescue, and the film sells a capsule of tartan accessories, including a dog coat.

Our view: few brand partnerships fit this well, and last year’s film earned 5.8 Stars from System1. The shape is the same as 2025, so the question is whether a reliable formula can hold its score. Read the story.

Aldi: Kevin the Carrot and the Christmas Wish

Agency: McCann Manchester; Launched: 5 November.

Kevin and his daughter Chantenay follow a trail of paw prints through a snowy forest in search of Cauli Dog, who turns up inside a Christmas cracker on a crowded dinner table. It is Kevin’s 11th Christmas, and the film marks the end of Aldi’s 21-year partnership with McCann Manchester.

Our view: safe, warm and exactly what it needs to be, with the cracker reveal landing the dog and the range in the same shot. Our review of ten years of Kevin the Carrot explains why nobody should tamper with him. Read the story.

TK Maxx: Festive Crossing

Agency: Wieden+Kennedy London; Director: Gary Freedman; Music: Goodies, Ciara; Launched: 5 November.

The farmer, his wife, the alpaca and the goat from 2023’s Festive Farm are driving home from TK Maxx when a family of ducks, each dressed in new TK Maxx buys, stops them in the road. It is the retailer’s first new Christmas advert in three years, and its TV debut is held back until 16 November.

Our view: one sight gag, familiar characters and a song that does the rest. Launching online first and arriving on TV later is a clever order for a film this short. Read the story.

Arsenal: ‘Twas the Season

Agency: Arsenal Creative Studio (in-house); Director: Si&Ad, Academy Films, as Marketing Week reported; Launched: 5 November.

Colin Firth narrates what sounds like a Christmas story as he walks through Islington, but every line also describes the 2025/26 season that ended with Arsenal’s first league title in 22 years. Alessia Russo, Riccardo Calafiori and Gabriel Magalhães join him, and the streets fill with supporters.

Our view: perfect casting and the best single gag of the season, a Love Actually nod in Portuguese. It is a victory lap, though, and it barely shows the Christmas shop it is meant to sell. Read our full review.

Boots: For Gifts They’ll Really Love

Agency: WPP; Director: Phoebe Arnstein, Biscuit Filmworks; Launched: 4 November.

Presents unwrapped on Christmas morning turn into year-round obsessions: one mum wears her LED light therapy mask to take out the bins, and another woman reaches for her hair styler halfway through a romantic dinner. It is the first Christmas for the Give it Some Boots platform launched in September.

Our view: comedy suits a retailer whose Christmas job is selling products, and every product here is the joke rather than a pack shot. Watch whether the 20-second cuts end up doing the selling. Read the story.

John Lewis: Gloria and Pickles

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, London; Director: Lucy Forbes, Smuggler; Music: You Can’t Always Get What You Want, performed by Sam Fender; Launched: 3 November.

Gloria, played by Dame Kristin Scott Thomas, is about to put cash in her grandchildren’s cards when an old wooden toy dog, voiced by Paul Whitehouse, comes to life and talks her into some last-minute shopping across London. The line is “Don’t give up on giving”, and it is the 20th John Lewis Christmas campaign.

Our view: the clearest strategy John Lewis has put on screen in years, with a song title that does the copywriting. It is busier than it needs to be, and the ending swaps one perfect present for a room full of products. Read our full review, or see every John Lewis Christmas advert ranked.

Lidl: Lidl Christmas Everybody

Media: OMD; Social: Coolr; Music: a reworked Merry Xmas Everybody, Slade; Launched: 3 November.

Shaun Williamson, Barry from EastEnders, goes door to door with bags of Lidl food, picking up a crowd including Chris Kamara as he sings rewritten Slade lyrics about turkeys, sprouts and chocolate gonks. The full music video runs to three minutes 25 seconds.

Our view: pop parody suits a discounter, because it is cheap to recognise and leaves room for price claims. But a song this familiar could carry any brand, and it only becomes Lidl’s if it comes back. Read the story.

Asda: All of Christmas at Asda Price. BOOM!

Agency: Lucky Generals; Director: Finn Keenan; Music: a remix of Animals, Martin Garrix; Launched: 3 November.

Four 30-second films open on picture-perfect Christmas card scenes and tip into full-blown parties, covering decorating, hosting, gifting, home delivery and Christmas dinner. The aim is to keep the price message while dialling up quality.

Our view: loud, simple and easy to cut across formats, and a brave call in a year of sentiment. The question is whether a dance party says quality, or just says cheap and cheerful at a higher volume. Read the story.

Sports Direct and Nike: Unwrap Potential

Agency: Chaos x Magic; Director: Tyrus Hill, Park Pictures; Launched: 3 November.

An uncle shopping for his niece is helped, without knowing it, by Erling Haaland, Leah Williamson, Dina Asher-Smith and Henry Pollock, whose “Athlete Intelligence” spots her football talent and points him to Haaland’s Nike boots. Aitch turns up looking for presents for his sisters, as Retail Gazette reported.

Our view: the AI pun is a good one, and this is Sports Direct’s first brand-exclusive Christmas advert with Nike. It is Frasers Group’s push upmarket, which it calls the Elevation Strategy, in a single minute.

Burberry: Wrapped in Burberry

Director: Harmony Korine; Launched: 3 November.

Pierce Brosnan and Fiona Shaw host a 170th anniversary house party at Longleat, with guests including Cara Delevingne, Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union. There are countryside walks, gift exchanges and golf buggy races before the night ends in a disco under a giant mirror ball, as Retail Gazette reported.

Our view: a luxury film made for a global audience rather than the British high street, but the country house setting makes the most of the brand’s heritage. It is more mood than idea.

Levi’s: Let’s Get Fuzzy

Launched: 2 November (global).

Gus, a snarling claymation yeti, smashes his way into a cabin party and is calmed by a red sweater that fits him perfectly. Each second of animation took about four hours to film, and Levi’s says no AI was used.

Our view: funny, tactile and wearing the product, which puts it in Levi’s best tradition. “No AI” is becoming a selling point this Christmas, and Levi’s says it more loudly than anyone. Read the story.

Thatchers: Saving Tasting Time

Agency: Aardman; Launched: 2 November.

In the cider maker’s first Christmas TV advert, Martin Thatcher takes to the skies in a hot-air balloon, with Myrtle the dog, to rescue the farm’s weekly cider tasting from heavy snow. The stop-motion film scored 5.9 Stars on System1’s Test Your Ad, Marketing Week reported.

Our view: Aardman again, and it works for the same reason Barbour’s film does, because the brand already had a ritual worth animating. A Friday tasting at 12.30 is a real tradition at Myrtle Farm, which makes the rescue mission feel earned.

Etsy: Workshops

Agency: Orchard; Launched: 2 November (UK and US).

A grey factory churns out identical gift boxes on a conveyor belt, then the film cuts to colourful workshops where real Etsy sellers make personalised gifts by hand. It builds on the Celebrate Being Human platform launched in May, as Marketing Week reported.

Our view: the clearest statement yet of this season’s backlash against automation. The contrast is simple to read, though the factory is a familiar villain.

Shelter: This is not a Christmas ad

Launched: 2 November.

A mother and daughter count down to a special day that looks like Christmas, until the film reveals their cramped temporary accommodation and that the day they are waiting for is getting the keys to a social home. The two-minute film launches Shelter’s Winter Appeal across ITV, YouTube and social.

Our view: the strongest charity idea of the season so far, because it borrows the grammar of every other film on this page and then turns it on the audience.

Sunday 1 November

Tesco: The Wrong Address

Agency: BBH London; Director: Steve Rogers, Biscuit Filmworks UK x Revolver; Music: Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, The Police; Launched: 1 November.

Lizzie, played by Anna Maxwell Martin, sends her Christmas delivery to her old address, and the Tesco driver, played by Roisin Conaty, turns out to be the school friend she lost touch with decades ago. Most of the three-minute film plays out in the van as she drives Lizzie home.

Our view: putting the delivery service at the centre of the plot means the product does the story work. It is Tesco’s first big celebrity film since 2019, and a three-minute one-off has to earn its place without a familiar hook. Read the story.

Sainsbury’s: The BFG’s big delivery

Agency: New Commercial Arts; Director: Sam Brown, Rogue Films; Launched: 1 November.

The BFG has a cold and thinks he will miss Christmas, so Sainsbury’s colleague Annie drives a van of Taste the Difference food into Giant Country, dodging the Greedy Giant and stopping a chase with an avalanche of Brussels sprouts. It is the BFG’s third Christmas for the supermarket.

Our view: shrinking the giant to a supporting role and putting Annie and the food at the centre keeps it fresh. A 20-second cut of a giant and a Sainsbury’s van needs no set-up, which is where a returning character earns its fee. Read the story.

Argos: Tales of Argos Past

Agency: T&P, London; Director: Declan Lowney, Merman; Launched: 1 November.

Richard Ayoade, stuck for a present for his mother, dismisses Argos as a toy shop and is visited by the ghosts of Connie the doll and Trevor the dinosaur, who show him camcorder footage of his childhood self circling the catalogue. He ends up buying her a light therapy mask and shouting “There is more to Argos” from his window.

Our view: the funniest Christmas advert of the season so far, held back by a crowded minute and a formula that is starting to show. Read our full review.

Very: That’s the Very Thing

Agency: The Gate; Director: Peter Lee-Scott; Production: M3Labs; Launched: 1 November.

A young flamingo hunts for his dream present, travelling through Very’s pink box into fantasy worlds inspired by the gifts his family want. It is Very’s first advert to combine CGI with AI-assisted animation, and it scored 5.9 Stars in System1’s pre-launch testing, as Retail Gazette reported.

Our view: the flamingos, which first appeared in 2023, are doing the job a brand character should. Using AI openly in a season when rivals are boasting about handmade work is a bold call.

October

Debenhams: Christmas. For Everyone

Agency: Debenhams in-house; Director: Tom Day, Pulse Films; Music: Dreams, Gabrielle; Launched: 15 October.

The first big Christmas advert of the year is a four-minute village party film, with Emily Atack and Mathew Horne as childhood friends who meet again and, after a snowstorm and a power cut, finally kiss. Kym Marsh plays the landlady and Gabrielle sings Dreams.

Our view: a sensible use of long-form video for a brand with no shops, and going first bought it weeks of attention. Read the story.

Still to come

As of 10 November, Coca-Cola, Co-op, Iceland and McDonald’s had not posted 2026 Christmas films on their own UK YouTube channels, and none had announced a premiere date. We will add them, and every other major film, as soon as each one is out on the brand’s own channel.

How we chose these

This page lists UK-facing Christmas adverts for 2026 that are live on the brand’s own YouTube channel, and every embed is the brand’s own upload. Launch dates are the day the film first went public, on TV or the brand’s channels, checked against the trade press. Credits are included only where we could confirm them, which is why some entries carry a full list and others only a date.

Our picks lean on our Crown Scores where we have reviewed a film, and on published testing such as System1’s where we have not. For how these films get made and why most retailers launch in the first week of November, see our Christmas ad playbook.

Christmas adverts 2026: FAQ

When does the John Lewis Christmas advert 2026 come out?

It is already out. Gloria and Pickles went live on John Lewis’s channels at 7.30am on Tuesday 3 November, with Dame Kristin Scott Thomas as Gloria and Paul Whitehouse as the voice of Pickles.

What is the best Christmas advert of 2026 so far?

On our Crown Scores, John Lewis’s Gloria and Pickles is the best so far, ahead of Argos’s Tales of Argos Past and Arsenal’s ‘Twas the Season. Argos is the funniest, and Shelter’s This is not a Christmas ad is the strongest charity film.

What song is in the John Lewis Christmas advert 2026?

It is You Can’t Always Get What You Want by The Rolling Stones, covered by Sam Fender. M&S uses Katherine Jenkins’s version of Heaven Is a Place on Earth, Tesco uses The Police’s Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Amazon uses a bespoke rendition of The Beatles’ Golden Slumbers, and Waitrose ends on Jennifer Rush’s The Power of Love. For more on why the track matters, see our guide to music in advertising.

Is the Coca-Cola Christmas advert 2026 out yet?

Not yet. As of 10 November, Coca-Cola has not posted a 2026 Christmas film on its Great Britain channel or announced a date, and we will add it here when it lands. Until then, read our review of Holidays Are Coming, the convoy that has owned December since 1995.