A west London vicar is the star of the latest Christmas advert to rival John Lewis.
The Amazon Prime advert tells the heart-warming tale of two old friends - a priest and an imam – who meet for a cup of tea and a moan about their achy joints as a result of kneeling for prayers.
After leaving, they both order knee pads for the other and get the gift delivered via Amazon Prime.
The Vicar of Little Venice, Reverend Gary Bradley, became involved with the advert after the agency visited his church, St Mary’s, on Paddington Green, while hunting for locations.
He told the Church Times: “I have seven years to go to retirement, so have plenty of background at being a priest. After all these years you tend to fit into the mould, and I suppose they thought I looked like a vicar — which is reassuring.
"But at first I thought it was rather a joke when they asked me to take part.”
He said he had not been put off by negative stories about Amazon’s global business dealings, praising the interfaith message.
“That message was so good, it came before all talk of globalisation and not paying tax,” he said. “It resonates with the way we work in this parish.
“There are many mosques around here and synagogues. Every Christmas we have a service which, although it is a celebration of Christmas, is actually staffed by other faith leaders, and is open to the whole community.
“We think it is really important that people should know each other. In our parish school we have children of all the world faiths, and each major festival of world religions is celebrated by all the children; so they grow up knowing each other’s views, tolerances, and faiths.”
His on-screen pal, Imam Zubeir Hassam, is the principal of the Muslim School at Oadby in Leicester.
Many viewers have taken to Twitter to describe the advert as the best of the lot this year.
Amazon Prime’s effort is up against festive offerings from John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and even Heathrow Airport in the contest for the season’s best.
