ITVX "Smile" ft. Matthew Macfadyen is part of The Freshest series of ads that includes world class acting talent - Emmy Award-winning Macfadyen, Oscar-winning actress Helena Bonham Carter and BAFTA rising star John Boyega. The ads consist of sharp-witted comedy sketches which are set in a rehearsal room - where we see a director and producer put the stars through their paces, as they are challenged to improvise their way through different scenarios in the question to effectively bring to life the UK's freshest streaming service.

In November of 2021, ITV released ITVX, a British online video-on-demand service operated by ITV providing ‘The Freshest’ British entertainment. To promote the release of ITV’s new and fresh streaming service ITVX, we created a series of star-studded comedic sketches titled ‘The Freshest’.

The series of films consisted of sharp-witted comedy sketches which are set in a rehearsal room—where we see a director and producer put the stars through their paces as they are challenged to improvise their way through different scenarios in the quest to effectively bring to life the UK’s freshest streaming service.

The films included world-class acting talent, from Emmy award-winning Matthew Macfadyen, Oscar-winning actress Helena Bonham Carter and BAFTA rising star John Boyega. They are directed by an Emmy Award-winning director. Each and every film is different - the sixteen bespoke films will vary in length from 3.30 minutes to 20 seconds.

Casting Matthew Macfadyen who understands that much of the comedy is in the beats between the lines was critical. Casting strong facile improvisers from London’s indie comedy circuit to play his director (Ed Knight) & casting director (Jordan Castle) tormentors, was equally critical. The casting didn't so much inspire the idea as shape it, we wrote specifically to the strengths of each celeb.