John Lewis Christmas advert 2022: Edinburgh actor John Paul Hurley stars in emotional advert

An Edinburgh actor is the star of the 2022 John Lewis Christmas advert
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Edinburgh actor John Paul Hurley stars in the new John Lewis Christmas advert, which was released today. The 2022 Christmas advert for the retailer is called ‘The Beginner’, and launched at 8am on Thursday (November 10).

It shows Hurley play a dad who is desperately learning to skateboard. We watch as he repeatedly tries and fails to perform tricks, before retrying again and eventually succeeding. All the while, a Mike Gier cover of Blink 182’s All The Small Things serves as the soundtrack. At the end of the trailer, a young girl arrives with a skateboard and it is revealed the dad had been practising to bond with the girl who has been placed in their care.

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The advert closes with the words: “Over 108,000 children in the UK are in the care system. We’re making a long-term commitment so support the futures of young people from care.”

An Edinburgh actor appears in the John Lewis Christmas advert for 2022An Edinburgh actor appears in the John Lewis Christmas advert for 2022
An Edinburgh actor appears in the John Lewis Christmas advert for 2022

Within two hours the tear-jerker was viewed nearly 100,000 times, and John Lewis has partnered with two care charities – including Scottish charity Who Cares? Scotland and Action for Children.

Although born in South Yorkshire, Hurley studied drama in Edinburgh in 1995 and has never left. The 48-year-old actor has appeared in Peaky Blinders, Shameless, The Syndicate, and Silent Witness.

He is also a script writer, working on the Scottish soap River City. Hurley’s first play, These Fragile Walls, made the list for the Bruntwood prize. In 2015, his play Ecclesiastical Supplies received a script development workshop and reading during Playwrights' Studio's Talkfest at the Tron programme.

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The 2022 John Lewis advert continues the tradition of moving and thoughtful festive ads from the department store company. In previous years, tearjerkers have included The Journey – a snowman who travels on an epic journey to his love, with Ellie Goulding’s cover of Your Song – The Bear and the Hare, Monty the Penguin, and Man on the Moon.

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