Enniscorthy brothers star in Tesco Christmas TV advert
TWO Enniscorthy boys will be starring in a Tesco advert this week thanking their nanny for hosting Christmas dinner
The ad is one of 35 ads shot by Tesco in their ‘Here’s to the Hosts’ Christmas campaign which is the company’s most ambitious Christmas campaign in Ireland to date.
Brother Jack (9) and Harry (6) Tomkins from Maderia Grove in Enniscorthy were selected from thousands of children nationwide to take part in the advertising campaign which will run on television, radio, social media, cinemas and in store.
Jack and Harry’s dad Shea said that the boys had entered a Tesco competition in which they had to write a letter to a host thanking them for having them at Christmas. They wrote the letter to their nanny, Mary Ann Doyle, from Ballinakill in Waterford, thanking her for having the family at Christmas.
The boys were then told they were shortlisted for the campaign and following a Skype call with award-winning documentarian, Ken Wardrop, who was directing the ads the brothers were chosen to take part.
In the letter the boys tell Mary Ann how much they love her ‘soggy Brussel sprouts’ which they said she starts cooking in November making ‘them melt in the mouth’. Her ‘crispy roast potatoes which are the best in the world’ also got a mention from the boys.
Aside from her cookery skills the boys also love Mary Ann’s big hugs and they promise to do all the washing up their year so that their grandparents can have a nap. The boys finish their letter by saying they love and adore their nanny.
Jack said that they wrote the letter to Mary Ann to ‘cheer her up and let her know how much we love her Christmas dinner. My dad got a text from Tesco saying they were making an ad about people who were writing a letter to their mums and nannies for Christmas so there we were with a letter to our nanny so we said ‘shir we’ll enter this now’.
‘A few days later we were picked for the first round and the director rang us on Viber and everything got really exciting and then the excitement really broke out when we were told we were going to be recorded and guaranteed to be on TV.’
The advert was shot in the Tomkins home on October 18 and their parents, Shea and Karen, were asked to have the house decorated for Christmas for the filming.
Harry said that it was a bit weird having Christmas decorations up so early especially when most people were getting ready for Halloween but said that after the filming they took all the decorations down.
However the boys didn’t want to banish them to the attic until December and said that got their parents to put the boxes into the utility room until they are put up for real.
The adorable brothers who are pupils at St Aidan’s National School also surprised their nanny by getting her to their home on the day of filming under false pretences saying they needed her to help out with something they were doing for school.
Jack said that ‘when she arrived she saw the Christmas decorations and said ‘this is very strange now, I wonder what’s going on. When we told her what was going on she got really emotional and started hugging us.’
The brothers who also have a five month old sister Daisy said that they really enjoyed their experience and said they would be open to doing more television work but maybe not until next year!
The duo are doubly spoiled when it comes to Christmas cooking. Their other granny is Mary Kelly, of Greenville Court, in Enniscorthy, and Jack says her homemade stuffing can’t be beaten, with her secret recipe having been passed down through the family for generations.