Joe Wilkinson has admitted that kissing Keira Knightley in the new Waitrose Christmas advert still feels weird, and says he can no longer shop in Waitrose because of the attention he attracts.
Kissing Keira Knightley still feels odd
The Celebrity Traitors star, 51, said screen kisses are "weird, really bizarre, even with, like, Keira Knightley." He added: "That was a thing we had a lovely chat about last year, because I was like, 'I can't pretend this isn't weird'."
Wilkinson said it had improved this time because they now know each other, but he still felt conscious of only having done three screen kisses in his career. "Last year there was a kind of anxious build-up to it, you kind of want it to be on the first day so it's over, like a driving test. But it was on day four, and I was like, I can't pretend," he explained.
The new Waitrose Christmas advert
In the festive advert, which launches today, viewers have six minutes to watch the next chapter of the romance. In short, they've broken up, Keira nearly marries posh Hugo, played by Alex Hassell, then Joe stops the wedding with a Beef Wellington and a request for her to marry him instead but gets thrown out before she can answer. She then breaks into his house and, having proposed back, they end up kissing in the kitchen.
Wilkinson said shopping in Waitrose will now become impossible for him because he attracts so much attention at this time of year. "There's big posters of us in all the shops, and it feels like you're kind of going in there to look at yourself," he admitted. "So you end up darting in, darting out - it gets a little bit tricky."
Reactions and future plans
Wilkinson said his wife, photographer Petra Exton, is strangely unbothered about him getting engaged to Keira in the ad. "What I should be worried about is that she doesn't actually worry," he laughed. "She thinks I can't get Keira Knightley for real."
Asked how it felt to beat Alex Hassell to the hand of the heroine, Wilkinson laughed: "I assumed I wouldn't get the girl - he should feel he's been robbed. Alex is a very funny, lovely man. When we were filming I was thinking all the time, 'well, you should go off with him'. To be honest, I would have done, you wouldn't have seen me for dust."
Keira said she always felt that last year's love story deserved another chapter. "I absolutely loved the chance to revisit our relationship this Christmas, although I wasn't expecting to find myself caught between two men and a beef Wellington! Making this short film has been so much fun. I hope it brings a little festive magic to everyone who watches it."
