A YOUNG boy and his imaginary monster under the bed are the stars of this year's John Lewis Christmas campaign.

The two-minute tale of friendship that develops between saucer-eyed Moz the Monster and his seven-year-old host Joe is set to a cover of The Beatles song Golden Slumbers by Manchester band Elbow for what has become a fixture in the build-up to Christmas.

The advert is scheduled to be played at about 9.30pm on Channel 4 this evening during a break from Gogglebox.

Moz and Joe strike up a friendship based on a mutual love of late-night Scalextric and piggyback games, but staying awake starts to take its toll on the boy and Moz realises he must allow him some peace and quiet.

Joe finds a clumsily wrapped present of a night light under the tree on Christmas morning, and the ad ends with him hearing the comforting rumblings of his friend when he switches it off that night.

The ad is something of a return to the tearjerkers of past years following last year's comedy bouncing dog Buster the boxer.

However the emotion is tempered by John Lewis unveiling what it describes as the 'world's first farting and snoring window' at its Oxford Street flagship store, where visitors will be able to see and hear Moz playing in the rooms in Joe's house.

The store declined to put a price on the ad, saying only that its budget was similar to previous years, when it spent around £1 million on putting each campaign together and another £6 million on television slots.

An American computer science teacher called John Lewis, who endures year after year of Twitter feedback on the retailer's campaigns despite clarifying that he is 'not a retail store', has already posted: "Trust me, no one wants to know what's under my bed. #UnderTheBed."