South Shields five-year-old becomes unexpected star of this year's John Lewis Christmas campaign

A five-year-old from South Shields is the unexpected star of John Lewis' Christmas campaign after he became obsessed with their Venus flytrap advert.

Tommy Lamb watched the festive advert up to a hundred times a day, with his mum Bethany, 30, posting a video on Facebook of him laughing and flapping his hands with joy in front of the tele.

When John Lewis saw the video, the retailer put together a film explaining Tommy's special bond with "Snapper" the flytrap, which has received thousands of likes and comments on social media.

Tommy, who is a pupil at Thornhill Park in Sunderland, a specialist school run by the North East Autism Society, was even invited for a VIP to John Lewis' Newcastle store, where he did a photoshoot and received the whole Snapper collection as gift.

He now takes the two soft toys with him everywhere he goes.

Bethany has highlighted that the video of Tommy allows others to share the special moments that she gets with him as a parent.

She said: “I’m so happy that John Lewis are getting this important message out and giving my boy a chance to shine.

"Not everybody gets to see the moments of joy we parents see, but John Lewis really get it.

“Tommy doesn’t talk much and can struggle making connections with people and things, but he has got so much joy out of this, it’s magical.

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“We celebrate Tommy being autistic and these moments are so beautiful. Now everyone can see that.

“He started at Thornhill Park in September and he’s really thriving there.

"They’re really encouraging him with his arts and crafts, and he created a card to give to John Lewis to say thank you for his presents.”

The card features in the John Lewis film, along with clips of Tommy cuddling his Snapper toys and visiting the Newcastle store.

“Thank you Tommy, for letting us be part of your Christmas joy,” the caption says.

The theme for John Lewis' Christmas campaign is to "let your traditions grow"< with Bethany saying that the message resonates in particular with her family.

She added: "Through Tommy’s disabilities and needs, a lot of traditions have had to change.

“You don’t realise unless you’re directly affected by this - you don’t think of the family maybe eating chicken nuggets for their Christmas dinner or turning the fairy lights down.

"It’s remarkable for John Lewis to highlight this. I’m so proud that Tommy is part of this. Nobody deserves it more.

"It’s going to be a great Christmas, I can hardly believe this has all happened."