Christmas adverts can often be hit and miss, but I’m always on the look out for the next viral masterpiece – and Google Pixel’s latest clip has well and truly stolen my heart.
Featuring Love Actually child star Thomas Brodie-Sangster, the minute-long ad shows the actor, who played Liam Neeson’s on-screen son Sam in the festive classic, completely unrecognisable as he wanders through London.
Recreating some of the film’s most iconic moments, he does his best – and hilariously unserious – impressions, yet no one around him realises it’s actually him.
The advert begins with a wide shot of Thomas sitting on London’s South Bank, enjoying the view of the River Thames with St Paul’s in the background.
Thomas portrayed Sam in Love Actually
Addressing the camera, he says with a signature swagger: “This is it, this is where we filmed Love Actually. I like to come back here once or twice or… 20 odd times each Christmas just to give something back to the fans and I get recognised a lot.”
Turning to a woman who seems to recognise him, she exclaims: “No way!” before getting out her phone to take a snap.
As Thomas turns to pose, she zooms past him to a bridge in the distance, adding: “Awww, Lily’s a lobster!” which is a nod to the infamous nativity lobster costume worn by one of Emma Thompson’s on-screen children.
“I really do this all for my fans… here we go again,” Thomas boasts, as he poses for another passer-by – only the viewer realises they’re zooming in on a man in the background recreating Hugh Grant’s iconic Prime Minister dance to ‘Jump’ by The Pointer Sisters.
“Everyone loves a drumming scene,” Thomas says while punching out a beat on a set of riverside drums.
“Look! It’s the actor from Love Actually,” says a young man – who turns out to be pointing at Thomas’s Love Actually co-star Martine McCutcheon as she drops her popcorn behind him.
© Photo: RexMartine McCutcheon plays Hugh Grant’s love interest Natalie
Still drumming away, an oblivious Thomas hilariously says: “Ah, that’s getting posted immediately. Probably go viral.”
The advert is part of Google Pixel’s ongoing seasonal campaign highlighting the phone’s powerful zoom and AI photo features. Its timing is perfect, as Love Actually continues to be one of the UK’s most rewatched Christmas films more than two decades after its release, regularly returning to TV schedules and streaming charts every festive season.
As someone whose favourite festive film is Love Actually (and yes, I’ve already watched it once this week), the Christmas ad is the perfect mixture of humour, heart and nostalgia. While a full sequel may be unlikely, I’d happily settle for one of these every year from now on.
