Royal Mail has confirmed that artificial intelligence was used for the voiceover in its 2025 Christmas advert, following complaints from a woman who recognised her late father's voice in the broadcast.
Lucy Wynne's father, Paul Vaughan, was a well-known voice actor on British television and radio, narrating programmes such as Horizon and Radio 4's Kaleidoscope. His warm tone and BBC-style English accent were distinctive, with an 'inflection in his voice that no one else has'.
Lucy was shocked to hear what sounded like her father in a Royal Mail advert in November 2025, 11 years after his death. The advert declared: 'Royal Mail, it's so much more than just a card.' Lucy and her husband Darren agreed the voice sounded suspiciously like Paul, who to her knowledge had never worked with the postal service.
AI voice confirmed by Royal Mail
Royal Mail has now confirmed that the voiceover was AI-generated. A spokesperson told Metro: 'The Christmas advertisement was produced for Royal Mail by external partners and featured real actors. As is increasingly common, the voiceover was AI-generated and we were advised that it was created using prompts and was not designed to replicate any specific individual.'
Deadline reported that the campaign was overseen by ad agency Darwin & the Machines, who worked with independent producer Untold Studios to film the real UK actors featured. However, the voiceover was subcontracted to AI company Fameplay, based in Czechia, which is backed by Czech Media Invest. That company is chaired by Daniel Křetínský, whose EP Group – a European conglomerate – also owns the Royal Mail.
A source told Deadline that Fameplay's Juraj Felix, who is close to Křetínský, had been 'obsessed' with the voiceover and was present during filming. 'The production team told him that it was not a great idea to use AI in connection with such a venerable British brand,' they said.
Concerns over voice replication
Given Paul's extensive work across radio, advertising, and audiobooks – including the Paddington books – his professional material is ripe for AI training. Fameplay's AI is reportedly licensed from ElevenLabs, which Matthew McConaughey is an investor in and has a partnership with Michael Caine.
The company declined to comment to Deadline on whether Paul's material may have been used to train the generator, meaning prompts might result in his warm, authoritative voice being replicated. They did, however, state that the Royal Mail narrator was not a direct clone of the late broadcaster.
Royal Mail said to Metro that production partners had 'carried out checks and advised that these did not identify any resemblance concerns'.
Lucy expressed her outrage: 'It's outrageous. He could have died two weeks ago, for all they knew. He could have been in the care home for the past 10 years, slowly losing his capacity for speech, and then all of a sudden, he's on the bloody telly. They have not bothered to do their background searches to figure out who this voice is.'
She added that her dad would have hated the idea that a computer was taking jobs away from voice artists, urging companies to pay a real person for the work. Lucy complained to Royal Mail but reportedly has not yet received any form of apology. The company stated: 'We understand the concerns raised and have taken them seriously.'
Industry criticism and next steps
Peter Caulfield, an actor who founded the Save Our Voices Now campaign, criticised Royal Mail's decision to use AI. 'Using AI in this way, whether inadvertently or not, without thorough checks, can result in a company stealing a voice from the grave and causing great upset to the family involved,' he said.
According to Deadline, ElevenLabs has now added Paul's voice to their list of No Go Voices, which prohibits direct cloning on its platform in future.
