Anderson argued that the character "broke the mould" for depictions of women in children's television. She also believed that after Penelope's early appearances, in which she played more of a supporting role, the character quickly rose to prominence: "All the heroines in our previous series had been perfect foils to the action-man heroes, but now, with Lady Penelope, we had an action girl who was a personality in her own right." When "Thunderbirds" was repeated on the BBC in the early 2000s, the character was criticised for smoking, wearing furs and not using seat belts in cars. Anderson commented that smoking and fur-wearing in particular were likely to be viewed by modern audiences as politically incorrect, calling them two of several "stereotyped prejudices" in "Thunderbirds". She elaborated: "We were limited by the age in which we lived, and although we prided ourselves on setting new boundaries, I suppose we were too obsessed with the Space Age, nuclear power and their consequences to be more aware of green and other more down-to-earth issues." Brian Viner writes that the character smoked "with the élan of Grace Kelly". In a negative preview of the live-action film, "XPosé" magazine commented that Penelope seemed to have "turned into Barbara Cartland, as though someone's decided that her defining character trait is the colour pink." Lady Penelope, again voiced by Sylvia Anderson, appeared to the character of Edina Monsoon in a dream sequence in "Hospital", a 1994 episode of the sitcom "Absolutely Fabulous". Also in 1994, Virgin Atlantic Airways named their first Boeing 747-400 after Lady Penelope; the aircraft's registration, inspired by FAB 1, was G-VFAB. The aircraft was retired in September 2015. In 2003, Virgin Trains West Coast named locomotive 57307 "Lady Penelope". It retained the name when sold to Direct Rail Services in 2013.