The Sequel Is Served: Waitrose Serves Up Another Festive Helping

Waitrose today unveils The Perfect Gift 2, the sequel to last year’s festive romcom, and this time love comes with a deadline, a love rival and a plan that has all the ingredients for disaster.

Keira Knightley is getting married at three o’clock. Unfortunately for Phil, she isn’t marrying him – the only thing standing between Keira and the wrong man is a beef Wellington. Can a romance first sparked over the Waitrose cheese counter win out, or is Phil about to eat a very large slice of humble pie?

Building on the success of last year’s campaign, Keira Knightley reprises her most personal role to date, herself, alongside Joe Wilkinson as Phil ‘Phil Phil’, the lovelorn everyman who won her heart last Christmas. Joining them is Alex Hassell as Hugo Bunty-Griffin, a suave new love rival with impeccable tailoring and charm so cheesy it should come with crackers.

Keira Knightley has it all: the dress, the venue, the dashing groom. There’s just one catch. Hugo Bunty-Griffin is more in love with his own reflection than his bride-to-be, treating his own wedding as a photoshoot in which he’s the star and Keira is merely a supporting role. And the man who has the recipe to truly steal her heart? Nowhere to be seen…

Across town, Phil is in full-blown heartbreak mode. His beard has reached tragic proportions, his dressing gown is now his entire wardrobe, and his only confidants are a pack of Waitrose No.1 Handmade Polar Bear Bao Buns. But when all hope seems lost, his best friends arrive with Waitrose bags in hand, and a plan even bolder than last year’s: another homemade food creation. But this is no ordinary love story, so Phil sets about baking the beef Wellington of his life.

Then comes a breakneck race against the clock, or at least a breakneck run-walk, from a man built for cheeseboards, not cross-country. Clutching his lovingly homemade wellington, he battles a flat tyre, a dog with a keen sense of smell and a stately home that has more stairs and corridors than should be legal.

In his efforts to get there in time Phil bursts through the doors, only for his beloved beef Wellington to end up sliding down the aisle to Keira’s feet, followed by his final gambit: a jar of homemade sauce labelled ‘Marry Me Instead?’. Hugo is furious at being upstaged, Keira is speechless and Phil is ushered out into the cold.

In the end, love (and good food) conquers all. Keira swaps the wedding aisle for the man she met in the Waitrose aisle, and gets down on one knee with a cheeseboard ring, with Phil’s ‘Marry Me Instead’ jar as the diamond. Because a true food match really is the perfect gift. And handmade beats handsome every time.

Keira Knightley comments: “I always felt last year’s love story deserved another chapter, and what a sequel this has been. I absolutely loved the chance to revisit our relationship this Christmas, although I wasn’t expecting to find myself caught between two men and a beef Wellington! Making this short film has been so much fun. I hope it brings a little festive magic to everyone who watches it.”

Joe Wilkinson adds: “Chuffed to be back for the sequel. If a beef Wellington doesn’t win back the heart of a Hollywood A-lister, nowt will. Although there is the thorny issue of Keira Knightley’s new beau, the dashing Alex Hassell. How will she choose between us?”

Alex Hassell says: “I play ‘Hugo’, a man in love… but really only with himself! And the idea of being a part of a celebrity power couple. I loved The Perfect Gift last year, so it was an honour to join the cast for another episode in the story, and all the gorgeous, silliness that went with it. Hugo thinks he’s the cat’s meow but Phil has something he doesn’t: a beef wellington and an adorable heart… may the best man win!”

Directed once again by Molly Manners, the film is made with all the ambition of a Hollywood blockbuster: snow-dusted country house locations, sweeping tracking shots and a soaring original score recorded by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Manners brings cinematic scale and a light comic touch to every frame, giving a tale about a man, a deadline and a beef Wellington the epic treatment it never knew it needed. Gary Martin, best known as the voice of the Honey Monster, narrates the trailer for full cinematic spectacle, and the film closes to Jennifer Rush’s ‘The Power of Love’, reinforcing its central message: sometimes the best way to tell someone you love how you feel is through food. From a chance spark at the Waitrose cheese counter to a proposal sealed with a cheeseboard ring, The Perfect Gift 2 brings the story full circle. Full of festive charm and heart, the mini-movie celebrates the starring role food plays in bringing people together, from the first spark of romance to the grandest of gestures.

Molly Manners, Director, adds: “We had a world-class orchestra, beautiful locations, snow and crane shots- all the ingredients for an epic love story. Then we put Joe Wilkinson at the centre of it, racing against the clock with a beef Wellington. That contrast is what makes it so much fun. We played every moment completely straight, giving Phil’s increasingly desperate mission the full cinematic treatment. And beneath all the chaos, there’s a genuine story about how food can say what words sometimes can’t.”

Nathan Ansell, Waitrose Chief Customer Officer, says: “Last year’s The Perfect Gift sparked a huge reaction, and our customers were clear: they wanted to know what happened next. So this Christmas we’ve given them a bigger, bolder sequel, with a love rival, a race against the clock and a beef Wellington as an unlikely hero. Every great romcom needs a moment where all seems lost, and ours just happens to be wrapped in pastry.

“Like last year we approached the edits as a film studio would, with trailers to hook you in and the full film available online to give this story the space it deserves. We significantly raised the creative and production stakes by extending the mini-film by two minutes, making it an ambitious six-minute cinematic romcom – the longest advert produced by a UK supermarket – while keeping our exceptional food credentials firmly at the narrative core. This is our way of giving audiences the happy ending they’ve been waiting for, and we hope it brings a smile, and a little inspiration, to homes across the country this Christmas.”

Where to watch

The festive film premiered on Waitrose channels including YouTube at 6.30am on 10 November, and will be supported by two shorter, 60 and 30 second movie-style trailers adverts and romcom inspired movie posters all teasing the twists and turns of the longer film.

A series of playful product ads also see the cast lose themselves mid-conversation, distracted by the irresistible delights of Waitrose’s festive range, including: