A stacked cast, a cosy mystery surrounding a missing dessert, and a daring cliffhanger make the Waitrose Christmas advert a winner on all fronts.
It’s Christmas day and tensions are already high when there is a blood-curdling scream. There’s not been a murder (that would be too Scandi noir) but the centrepiece dessert has vanished from the fridge.
The missing pudding is not – shock horror – your trad figgy pud, but rather a new frankenpudding (No.1 Waitrose Red Velvet Bauble Dessert to give it its full title) offering that does admittedly look extra festive.
Enter the Detective, a grizzled Matthew MacFadyen who is Succession’s chief wetwipe Tom Wambsgans to some, the ultimate Mr Darcy to others. He’s determined to sniff out the culprit, but everyone has an alibi – and a motive.
Eryl Maynard, of Miss Marple fame, is the posh grandmother whose nose has been put out of joint at being relegated to the cranberry sauce. Sian Clifford, Fleabag’s uptight sister Claire, is sneaking around with cheese dips while swearing she’s been prepping the parsnips.
Sex Education’s Rakhee Thakrar already has it out for an unwelcome guest, popping bottles of fizz like she’s fantasising about strangling her annoying relatives. Fig the cat is looking as fishy as their dangly red herring collar. Dustin Demri-Burns of Slow Horses is too flustered by his oven timings to notice the pudding – bought by comedian Joe Wilkinson in lieu of gifts – go AWOL under his nose.
With such an array of experienced thesps there’s stiff competition for scene-stealer status, but Fig has it in the bag. The fluffy moggy has nailed the poker face, rattling Mcfadyen's Detective. And yes, Fig is their real name, I asked. The backup cat they had on set was, serendipitously, called Pudding.
Detective mysteries have always been a mainstay of British culture, from Sherlock Holmes to Poirot, Miss Marple to Inspector Morse. Cosy crime is dominating the charts – just look at Richard Osman, presumably diving into his £10 million advances for the Thursday Murder Club like a literary Scrooge McDuck.
Waitrose have been smart to ride the wave, but they pulled it off with so much aplomb and heart that it never feels mercenary.
Ending on a cliffhanger is a bold note, and the grand reveal won’t air until closer to the big day. This allows the Waitrose team to have a lot of fun with all the extras around the campaign. There’s a very amusing series of video pieces where various characters protest their innocence in a well-stocked pantry. A detective board complete with red string due to be erected by King’s Cross. T-shirts to vote for your favourite suspect.
Because it wouldn’t be a proper mystery without allowing the audience to play along, there’s enough clues (and red herrings) for citizen detectives to do their own deductions.
My money is on the pudding having been encased, sarcophagus style, in those meddling kids’ gingerbread house. I’m not fooled by their feigned screen addiction. But whoeverdunnit, the standaout star Fig is criminally good.
