Tea-Sipping Monkey Channels Plush Socks in New PG Tips Ads

Fans of the long-running PG Tips chimp ads will be happy to know the simian is back. (As a sock puppet, sure, but CAPS may call this innovation.)

Founder Duncan Richardson of JDI Integrated Advertising told us that the PG Tips chimps are among the most beloved ad icons in the UK, with campaigns running 20 years deep, give or take a little.

Now the monkey's got an up-to-date left-field wit, a broader sense of drama, and a strange kind of innocence that can only be conjured by braided cotton and beaded eyes -- all of which you can see in The Return.

Monkey (or triangle teabag?) fans can hit PG Tips' Monkey Store to buy shirts, or monkeys wearing shirts, with stuff like "Mr. Shifter?," "3% invisible" and "Monkeh!" printed on them -- none of which we understand, but that only makes it funnier. (And we're not even high!)

We are leaning toward the flirty pink "Back to mine for a cuppa?" That monkey is raunchy.