John Lewis Christmas advert 2015: Company puts a man on the Moon to the sound of Oasis

The adorable Monty the Penguin has been stored in the deep freeze

You can imagine the smug looks at John Lewis as their rivals raided the props cupboard for traditional scarves and snowmen.

This time the retailer responsible for turning its £7m Christmas advertising campaign into a national event has sidestepped festive clichés to produce a touching lunar scenario which raises the creative bar in the seasonal battle to tug heartstrings.

The adorable Monty the Penguin, who last Christmas made a nation weep, and then rush out to buy replica plush toys, has been stored in the deep freeze.

Created by the same advertising agency, adam&eveDDB, the latest John Lewis instalment plays on the theme of loneliness and introduces a little girl, Lily, who is desperate to make contact with a solitary Man who lives on the Moon.

The extended two-minute mini-movie begins with Lily gazing longingly at the stars from her family telescope (The Celestron AstroMaster Plus Refractor Telescope with Moon Filter and 175x Eyepiece is £99.95 at John Lewis but be quick because stocks may not last.)

She alights on the moon where, to her amazement, out of a single clapperboard hut, emerges a silver-haired old man, clad in braces. She waves frantically but he doesn’t respond.

The twinkly-eyed man - actually a French theatre actor called Gene - stares out at the distant planet Earth. Can he sense someone out there thinking about him?

Cut to Christmas day and Lily enjoys a family gathering and the usual round of presents. Yet she returns to the telescope. The man is still there, sitting on his bench, alone in the vastness of the lunar landscape. Someone give him a penguin.

Fortunately John Lewis is here to help. A colourful package, accompanied by balloons, emerges from the gloom, defying gravity somewhat as it sails towards the man. He opens it – and now he too has a telescope.

Training it on Earth, he hones in on Lily’s home and finally, we see his eye, close up and moistening, as he makes contact with the iris of the little girl, whose Christmas dream has come true.

Cue viewers in floods when the film debuts on social media this morning before a full television airing during tonight’s Gogglebox on Channel 4.

A more predictable execution might have whisked Lily off to the moon. Muted in tone and palette, the advert is effective since the pair’s encounter is restricted to a fleeting, long-distance eye-contact.

It’s charm might even evoke Trip to the Moon, the ground-breaking 1902 French silent film directed by Georges Méliès.

John Lewis is stocking up on telescopes – a full moon is set for Christmas Day – but has foregone a soft toy bonanza for this advert which supports charity Age UK’s campaign to raise awareness of loneliness among older people. “Show someone they’re loved this Christmas,” reads the strapline.

It is only with the soundtrack, Oasis’s Half a World Away, that John Lewis reverts to formula. Relatively unknown Norwegian teenager Aurora turns the song into a sci-fi lullaby. But whilst Noel Gallagher will enjoy the bonus royalties, his original, yearning vocal would have carried the message just as well. Will John Lewis ever break out of the “male vocal revoiced by doleful female” template?

Still, REM, who actually bothered to write a song titled Man on the Moon, will be gutted.