Fasten Your Seatbelts: British Airways Enlists Celebrities for a Must-See Safety Video

Admit it: every time you are on a plane, the last thing you pay much attention to is the airline's safety video. That's why British Airways (BA) has come up with an ingenious way to get passengers glued to the screens when their new safety clip is played.

Teaming up with UK charity Comic Relief, Britain's national airline rounded up a number of who's who from the British film and television industry such as Gillian Anderson, Ian McKellen and Rowan "Mr Bean" Atkinson, to relay important safety instructions. Along with teaching passengers how to be safe in their seats, the stars introduce their Flying Start charity which raises funds for Comic Relief in the new in-flight video.

In the clip, the celebrities pretend to audition for a coveted part in a new British Airways safety information video, while simultaneously demonstrating actual safety procedures:

Safety First & A Good Cause

The first A-list celebrity we see in the 6-minute video is Oscar-nominated Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave), who is unceremoniously informed by video director Chabuddy G — played by British comedian Asim Chaudhry — that "This could be your big break... so don’t mess it up.”

Other famous faces include Westworld star Thandie Newton who, in her silky posh British accent, shows where the emergency exits are; Sir #IanMcKellen (X-Men) and Warwick Davis (Star Wars) showing how to use an oxygen mask and Welsh actor/comedian Rob Brydon demonstrating the use of a lifejacket.

Meanwhile, a rather polite Gordon Ramsey shows how to place petite handbags "in the seat in front of you" before becoming the grumpy chef that we all know and love; and Irish actor Jim Broadbent is bemused to learn that all he is required to do is to demonstrate how to put his tray table up and down elegantly.

Then, there is American actress #GillianAnderson doing her best BBC broadcaster impersonation as she demonstrates what positions passengers must adopt in the event of emergency landings. The X-Files legend has long called London home and is critically acclaimed for her work in British shows such as the crime series The Fall and period drama War & Peace, so she doesn't look out of place at all in an almost totally British cast.

The clip ends with every celebrity inviting viewers to generously donate to the Flying Start charity, while #RowanAtkinson does what he does best — executing a Mr Bean-style routine with the Flying Start donations envelope and dropped coins.

BA: Important to engage with safety video

This is the first time in BA history that celebrities were used for a safety video. BA CEO Alex Cruz explained why they decided to do so in a statement:

"It’s extremely important to us that customers engage with our safety video, and involving some of the nation’s most well-known personalities has given us the chance to create something fun that we hope people will watch from start to finish.”

Well, that's certainly one surefire way to capture people's attention. Since it was launched on YouTube on July 18, the BA safety video has already chalked up more than 2 million views.

An extended version of the British Airways star-studded safety video will be shown on flights from September 1, 2017.