Sir Terry Pratchett posthumously stars in Alzheimer's TV advert campaign

 
Sir Terry Pratchett starred in the campaign posthumously (Picture: Getty)
Getty
Robin de Peyer1 June 2015

Sir Terry Pratchett is posthumously starring in a hard-hitting TV ad campaign waging war on Alzheimer's - after he died from the disease in March this year.

The author and several other famous faces including Hollywood actor and charity ambassador Seth Rogen and James Nesbitt, joined forces for Alzheimer's Research UK's Fightback campaign.

Rogen, whose mother-in-law is living with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, said: "Alzheimer's disease is a global challenge and it doesn't respect ethnicity or wealth, and with a rapidly ageing global population, it's one of our biggest threats.

"Alzheimer's Research UK's campaign is a bit of a wake-up call to the scale of the challenge, but also a call to arms for us to back research to beat it.

"We shouldn't think of Alzheimer's as different to other big diseases, at its root are brain cells dying and this is a physical process that scientists can put a stop to, given the resources to do the job. I hope this campaign gets folks talking about the disease and moves us towards a place where we really start to fight it, I'm proud to be part of it."

The hard-hitting advert, created by the award-winning creative agency ais London and edited by the multi-award winning Sam Sneade, premiered during the Britain's Got Talent live finals on Saturday.

It also features TV personality Arlene Phillips, Dame Joan Bakewell and broadcaster Katie Derham.

Phillips, carer to her late father who had Alzheimer's disease, said: "The Alzheimer's Research UK advert brings home the urgent need for more investment in dementia research and I hope it will launch something of a fightback against the condition.

"Dementia is not something we have to accept, it's brought on by diseases that our scientists can beat if we all get behind them. We shouldn't have to just cope with dementia, we should be able to defeat it."

The TV advert is due to go out again during the Emmerdale ad break tonight and then on leading digital channels throughout June.

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