Gary Cutlack - 

A snowman and an acoustic cover version of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s The Power of Love are the stars of this year’s John Lewis TV advert, which retells the story of the annual epic struggle to find the missus an appropriate gift.

We won’t spoil the ending for you, but let’s just say Mrs Snowman gets something a bit more useful than a set of saucepans and a £20 book token. And no, I’m not crying, it’s just my asthma flaring up because of the central heating.

Interestingly, the snow isn’t British. The ad was filmed during our summer down in the New Zealand winter, with the makers shipping out British post boxes, road signs and other background props to give it the necessary homely feel we demand of our Christmas marketing materials.

Sadly there’s no “What’s in the Box?” viral comedy potential like there was in last year’s ad. [YouTube via Telegraph]