Darth Vader in a new commercial

Star Wars villain Darth Vader will soon be in a new commercial.

The ad is for the British electronics retail group Dixon. The company has partnered with Lucasfilm as part of its expensive marketing campaign.

The 40-second commercial spoofs a scene in Return of the Jedi (1983) in which Vader inspects the Death Star. He arrives to inspect the 14,000 Dixon employees at the Currys and PC World stores. A voiceover then says:

"We continually train all 14,000 staff to deliver great service. We can help."

The TV spot was produced by the M&C Saatchi agency, which also produced Dixon ads with the robotic characters C-3PO and R2-D2, televised in 2010.

“They hold up what we achieved last year as an example of a quality, mutually beneficial licensing partnership,” a Saatchi spokesman said of Lucasfilm.

The commercial is due to air Saturday on ITV1 and will run for three weeks.