John Lewis Christmas advert history: As Excitable Edgar warms hearts, we remember Monty the Penguin and Moz the Monster

As Excitable Edgar lands, we take a look at the John Lewis festive ads of the past
Jason Collie|Tom Herbert14 November 2019

John Lewis' much-hyped Christmas advert for the 2019 festive season has finally landed, a tearjerking tale featuring an excitable dragon called Edgar.

Excitable Edgar tells the story of the eponymous dragon whose exuberant and accident-prone nature threatens to ruin Christmas - that is until his friend Ava steps in.

The annual Christmas campaign from the department store has become such a fixture of the consumer festive calendar that some believe the festive season only starts when it's been released.

From a lovelorn snowman to a trampolining dog, each advert has introduced us to a range of characters since John Lewis first launched the annual campaign way back in 2007.

So with that in mind, here's a rundown of the all the ads since the first one screened more than a decade ago.

2007: Shadows

The ad shows a group of people stacking a pile of potential gifts including a desktop lamp, a computer and a leather satchel in an empty room. The finished product ends up creating a shadow that looks like a woman walking her dog through the snow, accompanied by the tagline: "Whoever you're looking for this Christmas."

2008: From Me To You

Culminating in the tagline: "If you know the person, you'll find the present," it shows a succession of characters followed by a matching gift.

The soundtrack is a cover of The Beatles' From Me To You recorded for the campaign, with vocals by Matt Spinner, a member of the John Lewis IT department and its music society.

2009: Sweet Child O' Mine

This was the first of the store's Christmas campaigns created by advertising agency Adam & Eve, now adam&eveDDB, and the first to feature a musical cover by a current artist, on this occasion a Taken By Trees version of Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N' Roses.

The ad shows children opening gifts for adults including a laptop, coffee machine and handbag, followed by the tagline: "Remember how Christmas used to feel? Give someone that feeling."

2010: A Tribute to Givers

Ellie Goulding's cover of Elton John's Your Song was the soundtrack to this ad, which showed parents sneaking a rocking horse upstairs while their children watched television, a man struggling to wrap a pair of candlesticks, a mechanic attempting to wrap a teapot at work and a young boy hanging a stocking on his dog's kennel.

2011: The Long Wait

Set to Slow Moving Millie's cover of Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want by the Smiths, the ad shows a young boy impatiently counting down to Christmas, only to show that his real motivation was to give presents to his parents.

2012: The Journey

A snowman traverses mountains and motorways to get to a shop to buy his snow girlfriend a scarf to keep her warm.

The soundtrack is Gabrielle Aplin's cover of The Power Of Love by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and the tagline is "Give a little more love this Christmas."

2013: The Bear and the Hare

Lily Allen's cover of Keane's Somewhere Only We Know accompanies an animated tale that opens with the line: "There was once an animal who had never seen Christmas." It goes on to show the friendship between a bear and a hare until the bear departs to hibernate when snow starts to fall. The hare thinks of the perfect Christmas present for the bear, an alarm clock to allow him to wake up and experience Christmas.

2014: Monty the Penguin

Monty, who hopes for love at Christmas time, is the imaginary character created by a boy whose favourite toy is a stuffed penguin. A female penguin toy happily arrives under the tree for Monty on Christmas Day.

The ad features a Tom Odell cover of John Lennon's Real Love.

2015: Man on the Moon

The biggest tearjerker of them all shows a young girl who spots a lonely old man on the moon and decides to send him a telescope to give him a connection to Earth. The partnership with Age UK had the tagline: "Show someone they're loved this Christmas."

Norwegian artist Aurora provided the soundtrack with a cover of Half The World Away by Oasis.

2016: Buster the Boxer

The story of Buster, who makes a break for the new Christmas trampoline after having to suffer watching foxes, a badger, squirrels and a hedgehog trying it out first, was accompanied by a cover of Randy Crawford's One Day I'll Fly Away by electronic trio Vaults.

2017: Moz the Monster

This two-minute advert, set to a cover of Beatles track Golden Slumbers covered by Elbow, tells the story of Joe who realises a snoring and farting 7ft imaginary monster called Moz lives under his bed.

The pair become good friends, getting up to all sorts of mischief playing together into the small hours. But Joe keeps falling asleep in the day, so Moz gives him a night light which when illuminated makes the monster vanish meaning Joe can sleep undisturbed.

But as the advert comes to an end with the tagline “For gifts that brighten up their world,” viewers soon realise when Joe turns off the night light, Moz returns - meaning they can remain friends.

This is the first time John Lewis have partnered with a celebrity for their advert. It opens with 71-year-old Elton John sat at the piano at home, playing his famous hit 'Your Song'.

From there, it rewinds back through his life, from some of his best-known gigs, to him in the recording studio and finally to him as a young boy receiving a piano for Christmas.

It closes with Elton John sat at the same piano in the present day and the heart-warming line: “Some gifts are more than just a gift.”

John Lewis' 2019 is a return to the familiar heartwarming Christmas tales featuring animals and children the department store became known for until last year's star turn with Elton John.

It tells the story of Ava and her exuberant dragon friend Edgar, an unpopular and luckless outsider who threatens to derail festivities because he can't control his fire-breathing excitement.

After his series of calamities, Edgar finally shuts himself away in despair, but Ava encourages him to rejoin the village with the gift of a Christmas pudding, which allows him to put his fire to perfect use.

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