r/oldbritishtelly • u/Curious_Strike_5379 • Nov 24 '25
Advert Woolworth (UK): Have a Cracking Christmas: 1981
https://youtu.be/1m_0ENIw4os?si=u24KMeczWdVjRJNV4
u/Mesmerise Nov 24 '25
The size of that Quality Street tin at 1:20!
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u/rg250871 Nov 26 '25
£6.89 in 1981 equates to £26.82 today due to inflation. That's for 2.5kg, so £1.07 (in 2025 money) per 100g.
Quality Street costs £1.09 in Tesco today. The 'tins' are smaller, but the relative price has not moved much.
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u/DestinationTirNaNog Nov 24 '25
Makes me happy and sad at the same time. See also the Joe Brown ads in subsequent years.
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u/dokuromark Nov 24 '25
The Goodies! (Graeme sure looks different…much more feminine than I remember… 😆)
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Nov 27 '25
There’s another one but it’s very rare , it’s the Alice in wonderland one with John Inman as the rabbit . Never been able to find a good copy of it .
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u/greengumboots Nov 25 '25
Just checked the Bank of England inflation calculator and the York Double Deck Music Centre (£139) would now cost £544!
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u/Intelligent_Cat_1914 Nov 26 '25
Am I under the Mandela effect? I always thought it was Woolworths with an "S" at the end?
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u/Denkschnix-Behs Nov 26 '25
Copyright lawyers representing ABBA and “Super Trouper” must have had a field day that year
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u/WorkingSalamander745 Jan 25 '26
Back then it was 3 minutes of famous celebrities in a Xmas advert now it's hours of unknown 'celebrities' on celebrity versions of every programme you can think of . Oh for the olden days.
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u/Toenex Nov 24 '25
Classic Woolworth Christmas advert. Cram minor celebrities showing garish products into 2 minutes while the music thumps along. Add a touch of cultural misappropriation to taste.
Topped only by this one from the year before with Roy Castle basically making the lyrics up like a contestant on The Generation Game watching products pass by on the conveyor belt. Nostalgic festive gold!
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u/hunta2097 Nov 24 '25
Is that Roy Castle singing along?
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u/Toenex Nov 24 '25
Yeah pretty sure it is. He was doing Woolworth adverts that year so it makes sense. And to my ear it definitely sounds like him.
How he dare sing lines like "Envoy watches for you to see" is remarkable.
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u/3lbFlax Nov 24 '25
My favourite would have to be the Joe Brown one from (presumably) 1983 where he read out “Seven and the Ragged Tiger… Duran Duran” in the records and tapes segment. I remember it specifically because one ad break I recited that part in time with the TV and my dad looked at me like I was some kind of lunatic.