Back in August 2005 M&S Autograph suits had seen sales drop for a 7^th consecutive quarter. Autograph, like the women’s Per Una range, was offering “designer clothes at high street prices” (the suits retailing at £249).

The M&S response was that using England Captain David Beckham was not the way to go this time – so they opted to get David Bailey in to photograph some comedians.

Step forward Martin Freeman, Bob Mortimer and Jimmy Carr.

At that time MF was known for The Office, BM for Shooting Stars and JC for 8 Out of 10 Cats.

Jimmy said:

Who doesn’t wear M&S underwear? They’ve been ‘supporting’ me for years and now I’m glad I’ve got a suit to wear as well. Marks & Spencer is a great British institution and I am very happy to be associated with it.

In the clip below Jonathan Ross asks Jimmy about the campaign (@ 9 minutes) and shows a picture of the trio.