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Virgin Atlantic Airways has cast Helen Mirren, the British actress, as its new TV ad personality.

She replaces Terence Stamp, who has starred in the airline’s pounds 2 million Upper Class advertising campaign since spring 1994.

Mirren will make her advertising debut in a campaign set to run next year through Virgin Atlantic’s agency, Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe. A new ad is currently being shot in London using the director, Jeff Stark, who also worked on the Terence Stamp ads.

Mirren has won acclaim for her roles in films such as the Madness of King George, and the Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover, as well as the Prime Suspect series of crime dramas on ITV.

It is thought that the new ads will be similar in tone to the previous series, although nobody at Rainey Kelly was available to comment.

Virgin is currently re-running selected Terence Stamp ads in response to British Airway’s recent pounds 115 million upgrade of its First and Club World services.