Christmas TV adverts may seem like snowglobes of festive cheer but they’re bloody commercial battlegrounds for the tinsel pound and the public imagination. Upmarket supermarket chain Waitrose appears to have the 2025 winner: a spoof “mini romcom” that starts with sparks flying between Hollywood siren Keira Knightley and comedian Joe Wilkinson at that well-known hub of passion and intrigue, the Waitrose cheese counter.
Reprising his character “Phil” from the 2024 campaign “Sweet Suspicion, A Waitrose Mystery”, Wilkinson is styled like the Paddington Bear of alternative comedy. He’s also disconcertingly over-groomed – even his beard looks blow-dried.
Nevertheless, love is in the air, along with cheeky Richard Curtis references (Love Actually; Notting Hill), and enough seasonal whimsy to stun a herd of reindeer. When it turns out Keira loves Phil, he’s so happy, dazzled, grateful… hmm.
The Waitrose advert appears to be a beta-male wish-fulfilment fantasy, predicated on the unlikeliness, nay ludicrousness, of the pairing. Says who? Wilkinson is extremely funny and, especially since Celebrity Traitors, many in the UK – men and women alike – are crushing on him. There are serious conceptual issues with the notion that he would struggle to seduce Hollywood royalty in the artificial snow of a festive TV advert. If anything, Keira, lovely as she is, might be punching up. If Joe Wilkinson is beta, it’s time for a rethink of alpha.
A fifth Toy Story film is set for release next summer, seven years after Toy Story 4. To infinity and beyond! For me, the Pixar series is the zenith of children’s cinema franchises. I’m still recovering from the scene in Toy Story 3 where the gang – Woody, Buzz, Slinky, Jessie et al – are holding hands going into the incinerator. A masterclass of poignancy.
In the new one, the core Toy Story theme of fear of redundancy – the toys are terrified of being discarded – gets an update. With the tagline “The age of toys is over”, a new tablet called LilyPad prompts a standoff between legacy toys and technology.
A clever move, tapping into parental anxiety over screen time. Electronic gadgets, including phones, are increasingly replacing traditional toys. According to Ofcom, there’s been a rise in three- to five-year-olds using social media. Are childhoods evolving, or being lost?
For its part, Toy Story’s humanisation of toys hacked the emotional data of children and, come to think of it, parents too. Every time I donated so much as an old Etch A Sketch to a charity shop, I felt like a cold-blooded murderer. The grip of screen-tech on young minds is a hot topic, but Toy Story exerted its own influence. Another thought: is demonising the screens – the carriers – the solution when the content is the problem?
Stuck for Christmas gift ideas? Apple has released iPhone Pocket. Termed an “additional pocket”, the idea is to place the phone inside and carry it about.
Designed by Issey Miyake – who made the turtlenecks favoured by late Apple founder, Steve Jobs – it comes in a range of stylish neon hues, furnished with a “peek” panel to check notifications. It’s a steal at £220 (a short version is £140). One slight negative is that the Pocket looks rather like a sock – a long sports sock that has come out all weird and skinny in the wash.
It’s beautiful. I want one. Now. But there’s been pushback from the churlish consumer base. The gist: more than two hundred notes for a knitted phone “pocket”? Aren’t phones portable already?
In an era of rife phone theft in the UK, has Apple cleverly produced something nobody would want to nick?
Photograph by Waitrose/PA