Lydia West was one of the breakout stars of Russell T Davies’ 2021 drama It’s a Sin for good reason. Playing Jill, the best friend - and almost surrogate mother - to a group of young gay men in the 1980s, she exuded warmth and heart every time she was on screen.
That same warmth permeates the 2022 Boots Christmas ad, which has very savvily put West front and centre of this year’s festive offering.
While on the bus, West mysteriously comes into possession of some Boots specs. But these aren’t just any specs: when they’re put on, they show the world through an entirely different light... oh, and Eighties banger You Make My Dreams (Come True) by Hall & Oates starts playing.
The bus is transformed briefly into a feast of cable-knit Christmas jumpers and fairy lights; a friend becomes a fabulous drag queen wielding a hair dryer and a weary office colleague is shown relaxing in a bubble bath, surrounded by what looks like a room full of candles. A trip with a friend in a car even becomes a limo ride, complete with fabulous dresses and a movie premiere.
The upshot is that these glasses show West whatever brings joy to the people she looks at – which implies that the man she stares at on the commuter bus wants nothing more than a cracking Christmas party – ideal for helping with the Christmas shopping and giving her pals what they really want.
And of course when Christmas rolls around, the glasses magically show her nothing different to what’s happening in the real world. Translated: true joy is watching your family wrap a mountain of Boots presents on Christmas Day.
Watching the ad, it’s not hard to think that we all need some celebratory specs of our own - in that looking at what makes those around you happy can’t help but lift the soul. The present day is portrayed as (and is) a drab old place - though the grey and rather joyless palette brings to mind (however unintended) the looming cost of living crisis, which dampens the mood somewhat.
Regardless, West effortlessly carries the entire thing and leaves the kind of warm, fuzzy feeling that only the best Christmas ads can conjure. The role of warm, relatable everywoman suits her well; guess I’m heading to Boots for some glasses this year, it’ll certainly help with the tricky business of which presents to buy.
