Waitrose Christmas advert 2026 returns with The Perfect Gift 2, and Keira Knightley is getting married again in the sequel. This time, though, she is about to wed Hugo Bunty-Griffin, not Phil.
The six minute festive campaign brings back Knightley and Joe Wilkinson from last year’s The Perfect Gift, with Alex Hassell joining as Phil’s love rival. Waitrose is clearly leaning into a repeatable format rather than a one-off holiday spot, which is a sensible move when a campaign has already established its own cast and comic rhythm.
The Perfect Gift 2 returns
The Perfect Gift 2 is the new Waitrose festive romcom, and its title alone signals that the retailer is treating the first film as a franchise rather than a single seasonal ad. Knightley again plays herself, while Wilkinson returns as Phil, the everyday local man from the original campaign.
That matters because the sequel format gives Waitrose a built-in structure: familiar characters, a continuing romance, and a clearer reason for viewers to follow the story from one year to the next. In Christmas advertising, repetition can be the point when it carries recognition without flattening the idea.
Phil meets Hugo Bunty-Griffin
Phil’s new problem is Hugo Bunty-Griffin, played by Alex Hassell. The character is described as Phil’s love rival, and the article says he seems to adore nothing as much as his own reflection.
That creates the sequel’s sharpest contrast. Phil is still the everyday local man from The Perfect Gift, but the wedding setup now places him opposite a rival whose name alone sounds written for excess. The campaign is not just repeating the old pairing; it is widening the comic gap between ordinary and absurd.
Knightley, Wilkinson and a sequel
The six minute length gives Waitrose room to stretch the setup rather than rush it. That is a different proposition from a quick holiday ad: the sequence can now carry a wedding premise, a rival entrance, and a continuation of the story last year introduced.
For viewers, the immediate takeaway is simple: The Perfect Gift 2 is not a reset. Waitrose has chosen to build on a return cast and a named rival instead of starting over, which makes the campaign feel like an annual chapter rather than a standalone Christmas spot.
The open question is what the full six minute sequence does with the wedding once Hugo Bunty-Griffin is in the frame. Waitrose has shown the setup, not the resolution, and that is where the sequel is likely to earn its place in the campaign.
