From the excited dragon to Sir Elton John – a history of John Lewis’ Christmas adverts

John Lewis' annual Christmas advert stars astronaut Skye and her boyfriend Nathan, who introduces her to the traditional mince pie and the fancy jumper.

Here's a look at the ads, now a highly anticipated holiday classic, and their soundtracks since they first aired in 2007.

– 2007: Shadow

The advert shows a group of people piling up a stack of gifts in an empty room, including a desk lamp, a computer and a leather bag. The finished product casts a shadow that looks like a woman walking her dog through the snow, accompanied by the slogan: “Whoever you're looking for this Christmas.”

– 2008: From me to you

The highlight is the slogan: “If you know the person, you will find the gift.” It shows a sequence of figures and then a matching gift.

The soundtrack is a cover of the Beatles song “From Me To You” recorded for the campaign, featuring vocals by Matt Spinner, a member of John Lewis’ IT department and his music company.

– 2009: My sweet child

This was the store's first Christmas campaign, created by advertising agency Adam & Eve (now adam&eveDDB), and the first to feature a musical cover by a current artist, in this case a Taken By Trees version of Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N' Roses.

The ad features children unwrapping adult gifts, including a laptop, coffee machine and handbag, and is followed by the tagline: “Remember what Christmas used to feel like? Give someone that feeling.”

– 2010: A tribute to the donors

The advert's soundtrack was a cover of Sir Elton John's “Your Song” featuring Ellie Goulding. It featured parents secretly bringing a rocking horse upstairs while their children watched TV, a man struggling to pack a pair of candlesticks, a mechanic trying to pack a teapot at work and a young boy hanging a stocking on his dog's kennel.

– 2011: The long wait

Set to Slow Moving Millie's cover of The Smiths' “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want”, the ad features a little boy impatiently counting down the days until Christmas, only to make it clear that his real motivation is to give presents to his parents.

– 2012: The Journey

A snowman crosses mountains and highways to get to a store and buy his snow friend a scarf to keep her warm.

The soundtrack is Gabrielle Aplin's cover of The Power Of Love by Frankie Goes To Hollywood and the tagline is: “Give the gift of a little more love this Christmas.”

– 2013: The Bear and the Hare

Lily Allen's cover of Keane's Somewhere Only We Know accompanies a cartoon story that begins with the line, “Once upon a time there was an animal who had never known Christmas.” It then shows the friendship between a bear and a rabbit until the bear goes into hibernation when it starts to snow. The rabbit thinks up the perfect Christmas present for the bear: an alarm clock that will allow him to wake up and experience Christmas.

– 2014: Monty the Penguin

Monty, who wishes for love at Christmas, is the fantasy character of a boy whose favorite toy is a stuffed penguin. On Christmas Day, a female toy penguin lies happily under the Christmas tree for Monty.

The ad features a cover of John Lennon’s “Real Love” by Tom Odell.

– 2015: Man on the Moon

The biggest tearjerker of all is about a young girl who discovers a lonely old man on the moon and decides to send him a telescope to give him a connection to Earth. The partnership with Age UK had the tagline: “Show someone they are loved this Christmas.”

Norwegian artist Aurora provided the soundtrack with a cover of Half The World Away by Oasis.

– 2016: Buster the Boxer

The story of Buster making his way to the new Christmas trampoline after watching foxes, a badger, squirrels and a hedgehog try it out first was accompanied by a cover of Randy Crawford's “One Day I'll Fly Away” by electronic trio Vaults.

– 2017: Moz The Monster

Seven-year-old Joe and his imaginary monster under the bed, Moz, develop a friendship based on their shared love of late-night games of Scalextric and piggyback riding. Moz eventually realises that their late nights must end when he sees how much they are taking a toll on Joe. Joe wakes up on Christmas morning to find a poorly wrapped nightlight present under the tree.

The ad featured a cover of the Beatles song “Golden Slumbers” by the Manchester band Elbow.

– 2018: The Boy and the Piano

For the first time, the Christmas campaign featured a celebrity star in the form of Sir Elton John. His performance of “Your Song” provided the soundtrack to a festive look back at his life and career.

The commercial begins with the superstar tapping the first notes of “Your Song,” his first big hit, and ends with four-year-old Elton running down the stairs on Christmas morning and unpacking the piano his grandmother gave him.

– 2019: The excited Edgar

An overconfident young dragon named Edgar nearly derails the festivities in a medieval village with his fire-breathing excitement: he accidentally melts the ice rink, turns a snowman into a puddle, and sets a Christmas tree on fire while his worried friend Ava watches.

The advert, the first in collaboration with Waitrose, was accompanied by a recording of “Can't Fight This Feeling” by REO Speedwagon by Dan Smith of the band Bastille and was shot over two weeks in Budapest with around 100 live extras.

– 2020: Give a little love

This campaign focused on acts of kindness during the coronavirus pandemic.

The stripped-down commercial was a departure from the blockbuster clips of previous years and consisted of a series of short stories, all depicting spontaneous acts of kindness, released to mark National Kindness Day.

The ad featured a new song written and sung by singer Celeste.

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