A surprise snowfall hit Sutton High Street in September and residents now know exactly why.

The fake bed of snow was part of the set of a McDonald's Christmas advert outside the branch in Sutton.

It’s the second time this year the Sutton McDonald's has been used as a central piece for a TV ad, except this time it was a much bigger production that took four days of filming to complete.

The ad features a wooden doll gazing longingly across a white Sutton High Street at the American fast food chain.

Tom Elgood, location manager on the shoot, said: “All this worked incredibly well in Sutton High Street. The local people were very interested, but during the evenings and nights the High Street was very quiet, which enabled us to achieve all the shots we required.

“We had a welcoming attitude from the shops and businesses in the area. The client, agency, producer and director were all very pleased that we were in a film friendly and workable street.”

Karen Everett, director for FilmFixer which manages the film office service for Sutton Council, said: “We paid close attention to making sure locals were disrupted as little as possible on their high street during the demanding shoot, allowing the production to animate a doll and send her out into the snow for a Christmas adventure.

“Most of the filming was at night and the production worked very hard, contacting residents ahead of time with door knocking and letter drops. They found that locals were quite happy to welcome the filming.”