With Christmas 2026 just six weeks away, a new British advertising campaign is putting a sexy spin on Santa Claus that will be unrecognizable to anyone who's expecting the traditional "chubby and plump, right jolly old elf."
In "The Home of Christmas" commercial for Mark & Spencer stores, British actor James Horton — best known for his role as Lord Ormond Hightower in HBO Max's House of the Dragon — plays a millennial Santa who shaves off his beard and decides to see what the holiday is like for all of us who live beyond the North Pole.
Norton's St. Nick is a youthful version of the celebrated Christmas icon, who realizes, "I've never actually experienced Christmas," he tells Mrs. C, played by Lucy Punch.
"Saint Nicholas!" she exclaims upon viewing what a beard trimmer and nothing more than a white cotton towel around his waist reveals: A shirtless specimen of a man that Men's Health called a "Shredded Santa." That alluring image of Norton, 41, has since gone viral since the ad debuted on Friday, according to The Guardian.
"Oh my! Imagine this Santa coming down your chimney," wrote one fan on X, with a fire emoji and a winking face and tongue. Welsh Emma, who has nearly 20K followers on Instagram, replied to M&S's post: "He not just Father Christmas, he’s DADDY Christmas."
"I know no one's going to recognize me," Norton declares in the commercial, to which Punch replies, "Oh, absolutely. No one's going to recognize you."
From there, the setting changes from the North Pole to London, where Santa goes undercover in more contemporary clothing to chat with the more typical guy in a red suit and fake beard, pops in to enjoy some cherubic children performing alongside singer Katherine Jenkins, crooning the pop classic "Heaven Is A Place On Earth." and then is invited to a neighborhood Christmas dinner by a kind stranger. Of course this is an ad for a retail chain, so ultimately Nick winds up at M&S, and brings home bags of presents.
"It's not every day you get asked to play Santa, let alone a Santa who immediately shaves off his beard!" said Norton, according to HuffPost. "M&S has been such a familiar part of Christmas for as long as I can remember, so getting to be part of its Christmas campaign feels really special. I loved that this story takes such an iconic character and lets us see him differently."
He added: "It's warm, funny and full of Christmas spirit, and I'm very happy to have been briefly trusted with the red suit," something the ad doesn't show, just those delicious abs.
As for how he maintains his hot body, Norton said he skipped the milk and cookies for bodyweight training and a varied fitness routine, according to Men's Health, saying he likes to combine strength training with cardio four times a week.
Norton completed the 2026 London Marathon earlier this year, and told the magazine he likes to mix it up depending on his shooting schedule.
"It depends on where I am in my career," he said on the Men's Health Built for Life podcast. "Sometimes it's all or nothing – I have to get as lean and as ripped as possible and I've got three months to do it. And sometimes I just have to get big."
Although straight, Norton is also known for his roles in LGBTQ+ entertainment media. He's playing Brian Epstein, The Beatles' openly gay manager, in Sam Mendes' upcoming biographical project. He also starred as Jude St. Francis in a theatrical adaptation of A Little Life in London's West End.
Watch the entire M&S "The Home for Christmas" commercial below.
