"The Inspection"

30 April 2025

2 mins 15s

A lovely bit of crumpet.

Before we get to assessing the brilliant comedy in this ad for Warburtons featuring Olivia Colman, let's reflect for a moment on its core purpose... persuading punters to buy the company's crumpets. Does it do this well? Hell, yeah. Even a devoutly gluten-intolerant Shoreditch sour dough aficionado is going to find themselves fantasising about a six-pack of crumpets after watching this.

And so to the elaborate comedy in which this perfectly pitched piece of advertising has been wrapped. Olivia Colman sends up her own status as a national treasure, and her reputation for being one of the good 'uns with exquisitely-judged knowingness. Given her background in comedy, it's no surprise that she lands all the gags in Andy Lee and Jonny Porthouse's script.. but being guided by Declan Lowney won't have done any harm. The brilliant Irish director has become the go to director for this campaign, and little wonder as he has few rivals when it comes to coaxing comic performances from big stars.

UK

Bread / Bread Products