Three of Britain’s biggest retailers released their Christmas adverts in the first minutes of Sunday 1 November 2026, starting this year’s festive advertising season in earnest. Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Argos all put their new films out under a midnight embargo, and each one says something about how the retailer wants to be seen in what the industry calls the golden quarter.
Tesco has a delivery driver who discovers that the customer on her route is a school friend she lost touch with years ago. Sainsbury’s has brought back Roald Dahl’s BFG for a third consecutive year, this time with a real store colleague driving a Christmas dinner into Giant Country. Argos has cast the comedian Richard Ayoade as a Scrooge figure who is haunted by the retailer’s old catalogue.
Behind the tinsel there is a sharper commercial story. Two of the three adverts are built around getting the Christmas food shop to someone’s door, and Tesco opens its Christmas delivery slots to priority customers on Tuesday. The Argos film is the first festive campaign since Sainsbury’s agreed to sell the business, and it lands as advertisers are forecast to spend a record £14bn in the final quarter of the year.
In short
- Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Argos released their Christmas 2026 adverts at midnight on 1 November, according to Retail Week, Campaign and the Mirror.
- Tesco’s advert stars Roisin Conaty as a delivery driver and Anna Maxwell Martin as the old school friend whose shopping she delivers; BBH London made it.
- Sainsbury’s brings back the BFG for a third year, with real colleague Annie Ferguson, and has partnered with Comic Relief to provide 12 million meals.
- Argos casts Richard Ayoade as Scrooge in a spoof of A Christmas Carol, its first festive campaign since Sainsbury’s agreed to sell it to Swift Partners for at least £120m.
- Tesco Christmas delivery slots open at 6am on 3 November for Anytime Delivery Saver and Click+Collect plan members and at 6am on 5 November for everyone else, according to Which?.
What did Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Argos launch on 1 November?
All three retailers published their main Christmas films at the start of 1 November. Retail Week timestamped its Argos story at 00:01, while Campaign carried separate reports on the Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Argos films shortly after midnight. The Mirror, syndicated through AOL, published its Sainsbury’s story at 00:06 GMT, and More About Advertising reviewed the Tesco film at 00:36 GMT.
The three films join a small number of earlier festive campaigns. Debenhams released its advert in October, a love story starring Emily Atack and the Gavin and Stacey actor Mathew Horne with a cameo from the singer Gabrielle. The Perfume Shop launched its “Let Love Last” campaign in late October, Retail Gazette reported.
The most closely watched British Christmas advert, from John Lewis, has not yet appeared. Its website said on Sunday morning that the 2026 film was “coming soon”. Several other big spenders, including Marks and Spencer and Aldi, had not published their main television adverts either at the time of writing.
| Retailer | Concept | Lead talent | Agency and director | What it sells |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tesco | A delivery driver reconnects with an estranged school friend after a Christmas order goes to the wrong house | Roisin Conaty and Anna Maxwell Martin | BBH London; directed by Steve Rogers | Online grocery delivery, Christmas food and the “Every little helps” promise |
| Sainsbury’s | A colleague drives a Christmas dinner into Giant Country for a BFG too ill to shop | The BFG with colleague Annie Ferguson | Not disclosed in launch coverage | Christmas food range, colleague service and a Comic Relief meals pledge |
| Argos | “Tales of Argos Past”: a spoof of A Christmas Carol in which toy ghosts show a sceptical man what Argos sells now | Richard Ayoade with mascots Connie and Trevor | T&P; directed by Declan Lowney through Merman | Range breadth beyond toys under the “There’s More to Argos” platform |
The table above uses details from Campaign, More About Advertising, ContentGrip, the Mirror and Brit Brief. None of the three retailers disclosed the media budget behind its campaign.
What happens in the Tesco Christmas advert?
Tesco’s film centres on Polly, a delivery driver played by the comedian Roisin Conaty, known for Last One Laughing and After Life. Polly is surprised to recognise the name on a Christmas food order: Lizzie, played by Anna Maxwell Martin of Motherland, an old school friend she has not seen in years.
Lizzie has accidentally sent her order to the wrong house. When the two women meet halfway to exchange the delivery, Lizzie’s car breaks down, and Polly drives her home in the delivery van while they reminisce. After they part, Polly receives a text inviting her to join the meal. More About Advertising describes the pair as former friends who fell out over an unspecified disagreement.
The film was created by BBH London, Tesco’s long-standing agency, and directed by Steve Rogers. Felipe Serradourada Guimarães, chief creative officer at BBH London and Dublin, said: “Tesco is such an icon and this story could only have been told by them.”
Suzanne Quinn, Tesco’s UK customer director, said the retailer was “showing up with plenty of extra little helps to deliver customers their very best Christmas”, citing deals, exclusive food and drink and festive experiences. Marketing Week described the approach as “cinematic”, and More About Advertising noted that Tesco had returned to a single big storytelling film after trying smaller, grittier vignettes last year.
Why a delivery driver matters
Casting a delivery driver as the hero is not an accident for Britain’s largest grocer. Online orders are one of the most demanding parts of the Christmas operation, and the days before 25 December are when delivery slots are hardest to get. A film that frames the driver as the person who goes “hundreds of miles out of her way”, in More About Advertising’s phrase, puts the service in front of millions of viewers days before booking opens.
Tesco has also been pushing faster delivery. Earlier this autumn it made its Whoosh rapid delivery service free until January on qualifying orders, and Which? reports that Whoosh now runs from more than 1,500 stores. The Christmas film does not mention Whoosh by name, but its message about getting the shopping to the door fits that wider strategy.
Early trade reviews are mixed. More About Advertising gave the film 6 on its creative scale, praising the two leads for making “something watchable out of a fundamentally pedestrian premise” while arguing that BBH “may have stretched the ‘Every little helps’ line beyond plausibility”. The publication added that Tesco and BBH, strong all year round, “seem to struggle with nailing Christmas”.
Anna Maxwell Martin said she was pleased to be part of a production acknowledging that “whilst we can all strive for our ‘perfect’ Christmas, it is in fact human connection that truly helps to make Christmas magic”. Conaty said she loved that the story “centres on female friendship”. Consumer reaction will become clearer once the film has run on television for a few days.
Why does Sainsbury’s keep bringing back the BFG?
Sainsbury’s has used Roald Dahl’s Big Friendly Giant in its Christmas advertising for three consecutive years. Last year’s film took the giant into the human world; this year the direction is reversed. The BFG has caught a cold and is too ill to do his Christmas shopping, so Sainsbury’s colleague Annie and a co-worker load up crates of Brussels sprouts, pigs in blankets and cheese and drive into Giant Country.
On the way, the Mirror reports, Annie is almost eaten by a not-so-friendly giant, has to navigate a snozzcumber grove and nearly falls off a cliff. She arrives with most of the dinner intact, including a bacon-wrapped turkey crown, and the pair share the meal with one word in mind: “Wondercrump!”
Annie Ferguson is a genuine Sainsbury’s employee from Kilcreggan in Argyll and Bute, and this is the second year she has appeared alongside the BFG. Emma Bisley, Sainsbury’s head of campaigns, told the Mirror: “She’s like a mini celebrity in her part of Scotland. She gets people coming in to her shop to talk to her.”
Radha Davies, Sainsbury’s marketing director, said the BFG was brought back because he captures the spirit of Christmas in Britain, and that the film was meant to show colleagues going “above and beyond” for customers. Production began in April, and the team had to carry crates of sprouts to Glasgow during a summer heatwave, according to the Mirror.
The Comic Relief meals pledge
The advert’s line that “no one should have to miss out on Christmas” is tied to a charity commitment. Sainsbury’s has partnered with Comic Relief to provide 12 million meals to families in the UK who need them most, the Mirror and Brit Brief report. The supermarket did not publish a cash value for the pledge in launch coverage.
The emphasis on a full Christmas dinner arriving at the door also lands in a year of pressure on festive food prices. The Food and Drink Federation cut its Christmas food inflation forecast to 3.9% in September, still above the Bank of England’s 2% target. Supermarkets are competing on value as well as sentiment, which is why the turkey crown and pigs in blankets are on screen rather than an abstract fairy tale.
What is Argos saying with Richard Ayoade as Scrooge?
The Argos film, titled “Tales of Argos Past”, is a light spoof of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. Richard Ayoade, best known to many viewers from The IT Crowd, plays an unimpressed Scrooge figure who has no idea what to buy his mum. Argos’s toy mascots, Connie and Trevor, appear as the ghosts and take him back through his childhood memories of the shop.
A flashback shows a younger Ayoade circling items in an Argos catalogue. ContentGrip reports that three younger versions of the character appear, each holding a reproduction catalogue matched to the year being depicted. In the end, Ayoade gives his mother a red light therapy mask, a nod to the at-home skincare trend.
Ayoade said of the role: “Like many, I live to circle, whether landing a light aircraft, skipping round roundabouts, or marking up the Argos catalogue.” He added that he was “filled with Christmas joy” and had “enjoyed the whole experience much more than I care to admit”.
The film was created with the agency T&P and directed by Declan Lowney through the production company Merman. Argos is running it from 1 November across television, social media and outdoor advertising, according to ContentGrip. Laura Boothby, Argos’s head of campaigns, said in launch interviews that the brand “would never really do a tearjerker campaign”, which explains the comic tone.
From Mr Frosty to Ninja Slushies
The outdoor posters make the commercial point more directly than the film. Each pairs a remembered Christmas present with a current product: Mr Frosty and the Game Boy Colour appear alongside Ninja Slushie machines and Nintendo Switch consoles, ContentGrip reports. The idea is that a parent who recognises a childhood gift should see, in the same glance, what their own children might want this year.
This continues the “There’s More to Argos” platform. Last Christmas, Connie and Trevor appeared with the actor Simon Bird in a film that also challenged the idea that Argos sells only toys. The 2026 version keeps the characters and the brand problem but swaps a modern shopping misunderstanding for a trip through personal history.
Argos stopped printing its catalogue in 2020, and most of its sales now begin online, often finishing with a collection from a Sainsbury’s store. For shoppers ordering gifts to be posted to relatives, the Royal Mail deadlines matter as much as the retailer’s own delivery promise; we have listed every Royal Mail Christmas 2026 posting date separately.
How does the Argos sale to Swift Partners affect shoppers?
This is the first Christmas campaign Argos has run since Sainsbury’s agreed to sell it. On 31 July 2026 Sainsbury’s announced a deal to sell Argos to Swift Partners, a newly formed company backed by the retail executives Richard Pennycook, Trevor Strain and Matt Truman alongside the investment firm True Capital, according to Retail Insight Network and ITV News.
The deal is worth at least £120m in cash: at least £70m on completion and a further £50m over the following three years, Sainsbury’s said. Completion is targeted for February 2027, with full separation expected by February 2029, and the transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals. Sainsbury’s paid about £1.4bn for Argos’s former parent, Home Retail Group, in 2016.
According to Sainsbury’s announcement, the assets include Argos’s standalone stores, its concessions inside Sainsbury’s supermarkets, the online retail business, the logistics network, Argos Care, Argos Pet Insurance, a distribution site in Daventry and sourcing offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Swift will take on the leases across the Argos property estate.
Sainsbury’s and Swift have also signed long-term commercial agreements covering Argos stores and collection points inside Sainsbury’s branches, the Nectar loyalty scheme, Nectar360 retail media and Habitat products. After completion, a transitional services arrangement lasting up to 24 months will oversee the separation.
What changes this Christmas
For now, nothing visible changes for shoppers. Sainsbury’s said Argos would continue to operate within Sainsbury’s during the transition “with no disruption for customers”, and the deal has not completed. Nectar points, in-store collection points and Argos Care cover continue as before this Christmas.
The financial picture has moved on since July. Sainsbury’s reclassified Argos as a discontinued operation in its interim results on 22 October, and Retail Week reported that the grocer upgraded its profit outlook to at least £1bn after the sale. That context helps explain the Argos film’s focus: a business preparing for independence needs shoppers to see it as a destination for electricals, beauty gadgets and homeware, not just a childhood memory.
| Argos sale term | Detail (per Sainsbury’s announcement, 31 July 2026) |
|---|---|
| Buyer | Swift Partners (Richard Pennycook, Trevor Strain, Matt Truman, True Capital) |
| Cash proceeds | At least £120m: at least £70m at completion, £50m over three years |
| Target completion | February 2027 |
| Full separation | Expected by February 2029 |
| Ongoing links | Argos stores and collection points in Sainsbury’s, Nectar, Nectar360, Habitat |
| Impact on Sainsbury’s | Non-cash impairment of about £350m; lease-adjusted net debt down about £250m |
Why do so many 2026 Christmas adverts feature home delivery?
Two of the three films released on Sunday are, at heart, stories about a delivery. Tesco’s hero is a delivery driver; Sainsbury’s colleague drives a Christmas dinner to a customer who cannot get to the shop. Argos’s story is about choosing a gift, but the retailer’s modern model depends on fast home delivery and same-day collection.
That reflects how the British Christmas food shop has changed. Every major grocer with its own online service now runs a separate Christmas booking window, often with priority access for paying subscribers. Getting a slot for 22, 23 or 24 December has become a small seasonal contest in its own right, and retailers use subscription schemes to reward loyal online customers with early access.
When can you book a supermarket Christmas delivery slot?
Tesco is the last of the big grocers to open. According to Which?, its Christmas delivery slots open at 6am on Tuesday 3 November for customers signed up to an Anytime Delivery Saver or Click+Collect plan, and at 6am on Thursday 5 November for everyone else, including Off-peak Delivery Saver members. To qualify for the early slots, shoppers need to sign up for an Anytime plan by midnight on 2 November.
Which? reports that Tesco has added 60,000 extra Christmas slots this year. Once open, slots are subject to availability, so customers with flexible delivery days have the best chance.
| Retailer | Priority access | General release | Christmas slot window and key rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tesco | 6am, 3 November (Anytime Delivery Saver, Click+Collect plan) | 6am, 5 November | Latest slots 23 or 24 December depending on location |
| Sainsbury’s | 16 October (Delivery Pass) | 23 October | Slots from 18 December to Christmas Eve |
| Asda | 13 October (Delivery Pass) | 20 October | 21 to 23 December; Food to Order checkout by 15 December |
| Morrisons | 1 October (Delivery Pass) | 7 October | 18 to 31 December for the first time; £25 minimum spend |
| Waitrose | No early access this year | 30 September | 20 to 24 December; £40 minimum; amend until midnight on 15 December |
| Ocado | Smart Pass holders who joined by 1 September | Staggered release | 20 to 24 December; £90 minimum for Christmas shops (per MoneySavingExpert) |
| Iceland | None | 28 days before delivery | A 23 December delivery can be booked from 26 November |
Dates in the table come from Which? (12 October) and MoneySavingExpert (updated 23 October). Aldi and Lidl do not run their own online grocery delivery services. M&S Christmas Food to Order is collection only, with a £50 minimum paid upfront; M&S groceries for delivery are sold through Ocado.
Tesco’s Anytime Delivery Saver costs £7.99 a month on a six-month plan or £6.99 a month on a 12-month plan, according to MoneySavingExpert, and the Click+Collect plan costs £2.49 a month for six months. Buying a plan now only to secure a Christmas slot commits shoppers to at least six months of payments, so it makes most sense for households that already order online regularly.
MoneySavingExpert suggests booking a slot with a few items and editing the basket later, while checking the retailer’s edit deadline. Shoppers should not spend more than they otherwise would just to secure a slot, and comparing prices across retailers before committing to a full Christmas order can make a meaningful difference.
How much are retailers spending on Christmas advertising?
The adverts arrive as UK advertisers prepare for a record festive quarter. The Advertising Association and WARC forecast on 29 October that UK advertising investment will reach £14.0bn in the fourth quarter of 2026, up 8.2% on a year earlier and £1.06bn more than the same period in 2025. Full-year spending is forecast to reach £51.3bn, a rise of 9.9%.
Stephen Woodford, chief executive of the Advertising Association, said the forecast underlined “the vital role advertising plays across all channels and media formats in supporting business growth during the golden quarter and beyond”. The figures cover all advertisers, not only retailers, but the run-up to Christmas is when retail campaigns are most concentrated.
| Channel | Forecast growth, Q4 2026 vs Q4 2025 |
|---|---|
| Social media | 18.5% |
| Retail media | 16.2% |
| Addressable TV | 15.1% |
| Digital out of home | 9.5% |
| Cinema | 8.6% |
| Search | 7.8% |
| Out of home (total) | 7.5% |
| Total TV | 1.6% |
Source: Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report, 29 October 2026, as reported by Advanced Television. The pattern helps explain why the big Christmas films now arrive with a package of social cut-downs and outdoor posters, as Argos’s campaign does. Linear television still carries the flagship film, but its forecast growth is small compared with social media and retail media.
Retail media, the advertising that brands buy on a retailer’s own website, app and in-store screens, is one of the fastest-growing channels. It accounted for 8.4% of total UK advertising investment in the second quarter of 2026, after growing 31.2% year on year, according to the same report. For shoppers, it means more of the products shown at the top of a supermarket’s search results or on a loyalty app are paid placements.
This is directly relevant to the Argos sale. Sainsbury’s will keep a long-term agreement with Swift covering Nectar360, its retail media business, so brands advertising to Argos shoppers through Nectar data are expected to continue doing so after the separation.
When will John Lewis, M&S and Aldi release their adverts?
John Lewis has not announced a release date. Its website described the 2026 advert as “coming soon” on Sunday morning, and in recent years the partnership has usually launched its film in the first half of November. Earlier this autumn John Lewis said it would hire 10,400 temporary staff for Christmas, fewer than last year, with pay set between £13 and £14.80 an hour.
Marks and Spencer and Aldi had not published their main Christmas television adverts by Sunday morning. Aldi revealed a preview of its 2026 Christmas food range on 7 October through its press office, and its long-running Kevin the Carrot character has been a fixture of recent campaigns, but the discounter has not confirmed the content of this year’s film. Brit Brief noted that the adverts released so far lean towards festive fun rather than tear-jerkers.
Releasing on 1 November gives Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Argos a clear run before the heaviest weeks of November. It also positions their Christmas messages ahead of Black Friday on 27 November, when the focus switches from storytelling to discounts. Several retailers have already started early Black Friday sales, and the Christmas films will share airtime with price-led advertising for the rest of the month.
For shoppers, the practical message beneath the adverts is about timing. Grocery delivery slots, posting deadlines and early deals all arrive in the next few weeks, and the retailers advertising most heavily are the ones competing hardest for the same Christmas basket.
A checklist for the next fortnight
- If you plan a Tesco Christmas delivery and already pay for an Anytime Delivery Saver or Click+Collect plan, be ready at 6am on Tuesday 3 November.
- If you do not have a plan, Tesco’s general release opens at 6am on Thursday 5 November.
- Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose slots are already open to all customers, so check availability now rather than waiting.
- Note each retailer’s basket edit deadline, typically mid-December for Christmas ranges.
- For gifts bought online from Argos or elsewhere, check the retailer’s own Christmas delivery cut-off as well as the Royal Mail posting dates.
Frequently asked questions
When were the Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Argos Christmas adverts released?
All three were released just after midnight on Sunday 1 November 2026. Retail Week published its Argos report at 00:01, and Campaign, the Mirror and More About Advertising covered the Tesco and Sainsbury’s films within the first hour.
Who is in the Tesco Christmas advert 2026?
The comedian Roisin Conaty plays Polly, a Tesco delivery driver, and Anna Maxwell Martin, known for Motherland, plays Lizzie, an old school friend whose Christmas order has gone to the wrong house. The film was made by BBH London and directed by Steve Rogers.
Is the BFG in the Sainsbury’s Christmas advert again?
Yes. 2026 is the third consecutive year Sainsbury’s has used Roald Dahl’s Big Friendly Giant. This time the BFG is ill and Sainsbury’s colleague Annie Ferguson, a real employee from Kilcreggan, drives a Christmas dinner into Giant Country. Sainsbury’s has also partnered with Comic Relief to provide 12 million meals.
Who plays Scrooge in the Argos Christmas advert?
Richard Ayoade plays a Scrooge figure in “Tales of Argos Past”, a spoof of A Christmas Carol. Argos mascots Connie and Trevor act as the ghosts. The film was created with T&P and directed by Declan Lowney through Merman.
Is Argos still owned by Sainsbury’s?
Yes, for now. Sainsbury’s agreed in July 2026 to sell Argos to Swift Partners for at least £120m, but completion is targeted for February 2027. Sainsbury’s says there will be no disruption for customers during the transition, and Argos collection points in Sainsbury’s stores and Nectar are covered by long-term agreements.
When do Tesco Christmas delivery slots open in 2026?
According to Which?, slots open at 6am on 3 November for customers on an Anytime Delivery Saver or Click+Collect plan, and at 6am on 5 November for everyone else. You need to sign up to an Anytime plan by midnight on 2 November to get early access. Tesco has added 60,000 extra slots this year.
When is the John Lewis Christmas advert 2026 coming out?
John Lewis has not confirmed a date. Its website said the 2026 advert was “coming soon” on 1 November. In recent years the partnership has usually released its film in the first half of November.
How much will UK advertisers spend this Christmas?
The Advertising Association and WARC forecast record UK advertising investment of £14.0bn in the fourth quarter of 2026, up 8.2% year on year. Social media, retail media and addressable TV are expected to grow fastest.