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M&S Christmas advert hailed 'best ever' by viewers - watch

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Bishop, H. (2026, November 6). M&S Christmas advert hailed 'best ever' by viewers - watch. Evening Standard. https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/marks-and-spencer-christmas-advert-2026-john-lewis-b1303831.html

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Evening Standard · collected 2026-11-06 · by Holly Bishop

Quick Summary

M&S released a Christmas advertisement featuring James Norton as an undercover Santa Claus, which has received widespread praise from viewers on social media. The ad includes performances by Lucy Punch and Katherine Jenkins OBE, and marks the first time M&S has integrated food, fashion, home, and beauty into one campaign in nearly a decade. While some praised it for its humor and sentimentality, others criticized John Lewis's competing Christmas ad for being "out of touch," with social media users expressing preference for M&S’s approach.
Written by AI on 2026-11-06, from this article's own text only.

AI analysis

Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 134295 · logged 2026-11-06

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
18
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 18 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
64/100
Evening Standard's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
unclustered
not grouped into a story yet
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-06 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Evening Standard · 8902 article(s) · 74 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 74 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Holly Bishop
96 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Read More “It didn’t make me feel Christmassy and to be honest if they were my kids they wouldn’t be getting any presents they were so rude,” said one social media user.
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Also by Holly Bishop
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 96 articles by Holly Bishop →

Topics

John Lewis M&S

Subjects

James Norton PERSON · 2× John Lewis ORG · 2× Claus PERSON · 1× John Lewis’ PERSON · 1× Katherine Jenkins PERSON · 1× Lucy Punch PERSON · 1× Santa PERSON · 1× Santa Claus PERSON · 1× Stacey Dooley PERSON · 1× Vicky Pattison PERSON · 1×

Narrative

In comparison, the M&S advert has been praised for bringing the “humour” and “silliness” to a Christmas advert. “Now that's how a Christmas advert should be done!” wrote one user, whilst another said: “Love it.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-06
🔮 Read More “It didn’t make me feel Christmassy and to be honest if they were my kids they wouldn’t be getting any presents they were so rude,” said one social media user.
2026-11-06 · Evening Standard
M&S Christmas advert hailed 'best ever' by viewers - watch · assertive framing

Claims (18 extracted, 0 hedged)

It features James Norton as an undercover Santa Claus, while Lucy Punch stars as Mrs Claus. asserted
Punch → feature → Claus
Katherine Jenkins OBE also makes a special appearance and provides the soundtrack, with a reimagining of “Heaven Is a Place on Earth”. asserted
Heaven → make → Earth
In the advert, an incognito Santa leaves the North Pole behind and steps out into the world to experience Christmas from a whole new perspective. asserted
Santa → leave → perspective
Viewers have taken to social media to heap praise on the retailer’s festive advert, which is the first time in almost a decade that it has brought food, fashion, home and beauty together in one campaign. asserted
it → take → campaign
“It is the best advert I have ever seen,” wrote reality star and presenter Vicky Pattison, whilst broadcaster Stacey Dooley commented: “Absolutely yes.” asserted
Dooley → see → ?
“Whoever thought of this needs a RAISE! asserted
thought → think → RAISE
This is AMAZING!,” added another user, with a different approving viewer commenting: “James Norton as Santa Claus is how Christmas should be from now on.” asserted
Christmas → add → Claus
Many compared it to John Lewis’ Christmas advert, which was criticised by some for being “out of touch”. asserted
which → compare → touch
The advert, which was released on Tuesday, centres on a wealthy grandmother Gloria, played by Dame Kristin Scott Thomas. asserted
which → release → Thomas
Her grandchildren are left unimpressed with her attempts to entertain them with her old toy collection. asserted
grandchildren → leave → collection
She is talked out of giving them money by her wooden toy dog Pickles (voiced by Paul Whitehouse), who comes to life and brings her to John Lewis, where she buys them gifts instead, finally pleasing them. asserted
she → talk → them
Read More “It didn’t make me feel Christmassy and to be honest if they were my kids they wouldn’t be getting any presents they were so rude,” said one social media user. asserted
user → read → presents
Another wrote: “Basically the grandchildren are absolute brats, they completely disrespect their grandmother and their mother just shrugs her shoulders and blames grandma. asserted
mother → write → grandma
Grandma then goes to the ends of the earth to buy s*** to make them love her. asserted
them → go → her
Even the fact they shake the card expecting money is shocking. asserted
they → shake → money
In comparison, the M&S advert has been praised for bringing the “humour” and “silliness” to a Christmas advert. “Now that's how a Christmas advert should be done!” wrote one user, whilst another said: “Love it. asserted
another → praise → it
Shame JL didn’t think of that!,” said a third. asserted
third → think → that
“Light years ahead of the train wreck that is the John Lewis Christmas Advert,” another added. asserted
another → add → wreck
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