plays where the actors can't do the accent

bunny17

Martin compston made a fab job of Londoner Steve Arnott in line of duty ?

This made me smile. I hasten to add not because it isn't true as he is brilliant but I recall, when he was in a Scottish play/film using his own Glaswegian accent, seeing comments about how awful his attempt at a Glaswegian accent was. Lol, you just can't please some folks.

Years ago I met a young Spanish lad who spoke excellent English but with a slight Scouse accent . Turned out he learnt to speak English through listening to the Beatles. ?

I’ve just watched Rebellion on Netflix. I’m usually able to pick up most accents but the strong Southern Irish accent combined with a lot of muffle had me reaching for the subtitle button (brilliant series btw)

I live in Norfolk. No one should attempt a Norfolk accent without proper training. We have a unique and beautiful accent. It does not sound sound like Mummerset.

Martin compston made a fab job of Londoner Steve Arnott in line of duty

Martin compston made a fab job of Londoner Steve Arnott in line of duty ?

When I joined the Navy, my class had a broad Scouser and a Geordie. Only I from deep in rural Kent was able to translate between then the first night such that they could fully communicate. They got each other eventually, but it was a long, tiring first week !! My class also had Welsh and Scots chaps with delightful, but complex, dialects.
We were all going to become Radio Operators so levelling down towards RP and especially the phonetic alphabet (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie) was strongly encouraged from the off.

It comes down to money, some of these productions are low budget and actors dont get time to absorb the local accent fully, particularly when the previous film has been based elsewhere. That should not be a problem if its a series, although being a authentic Brummie or Yam Yam is not easy.

I once went to a Shakespeare at school and the actors had a range of accents from all around the world, I would have preferred a standard RP accent. It was very distracting hearing accents switch from American to Estuary...

Watched Vera again last night. Love the scenery, the plots are good and Brenda Blethyn perfect for the role, but as Galaxy says her accent just isn’t right - it’s neither Geordie nor Northumbrian. Good try but no cigar, though probably not noticeable outside the region.

Ralph Fienes perfected his Suffolk accent for The Dig. He was coached by an old Suffolk man who had studied the subtle differences each area has..

When we go to our home in Suffolk, from Essex, we struggle to understand the elderly locals. It’s only an hour and a half up the road but a completely different accent.

No one ever gets Norfolk or Suffolk right.

I remember Daniel Radcliffe saying that he once acted in a play set in Galway. He started off with a generic Irish accent but the other players soon put him right and he worked hard at the Galway. I expect he is very conscious of this now, so I will watch out for him doing other accents.

Taggart may have been a very good drama but I couldn't understand a word of it.

I'll never forget a local amateur production of Guys and Dolls. It was a young cast and many of them struggled with the American accents, but the director had obviously just thrown in the towel with one young lad who sauntered to the front of the stage and announced in a broad scouse accent "Hiya, I'm Arry de Orse"!

When I lived in Cornwall during the 70s there was a lot of hilarity about the first version of Poldark. Ross and George were fine because they were gentry and wouldn't be expected to have a broad accent and of course Demelza was so lovely she could have got away with anything, but there was an awful lot of Mummerset being spoken.

I cannot place UK accents very well, just very broadly north or south.

Can someone tell me if Louise in Doc Martin speaks with a Cornish accent? I did notice some of the harder consonants at some words and wondered if that was her own accent or Cornish.

As a Brummie born and bred, I've yet to hear an actor who can do a Birmingham accent. Peaky Blinders had some cringeworthy accents in it. The best I've heard was Toby Jones in the recent programme Danny Boy. It was a Midlands accent and pretty good.

I've yet to hear an actor who can 'do' a scouse accent. I know that there must be many good actors in Liverpool but still they employ people who think they sound scouse but don't.

Roses I agree with you there are plenty of perfectly good actors with Scouse accents.

Many actors including some famous ones just can't get a Liverpool accent anywhere near right, I always have to turn the TV off as they sound so aweful

They still don't sound like they are from Birmingham but I have to be honest I couldn't watch it after one episode raised by wolves is supposed to be Wolverhampton ay it?

Black Country - it's a dialect, not an accent. And it isn't Birmingham!

Thanks for the replies and I'm glad I'm not the only one, maybe I am getting nostalgic in my old age.
I know what the Scots people mean, it is all Glaswegian and I remember the film Kess had to be subtitled when it was shown in the south.
Maybe if it was in Cumbrian no one else would understand it except us.
Many years ago we had a laugh when a friend asked us where Ken John Peel was buried, we did have trouble explaining that his name was just John Peel and ken meant do you know.

When we go to Chinese or Vietnamese restaurants I always have to order because the waiters cannot understand my husband at all. He was from Cheshire and has never lost that accent. Any takeaway has to be ordered by me for the same reason. A lot of Aussies can’t understand Scottish accents, mainly Glaswegian,on tv- I have had to translate for a couple of friends.

Oh, one of my pet hates

Nearly everyone in every drama set in Scotland has a Glasgow accent. The most obvious example is Shetland, where only one character (I think) has a Shetland accent, the rest are all Glaswegian. Even Jimmy Perez, born and bred in Fair Isle. Glasgow accent

The Shetland accent is very strong, but so is the Glasgow one. Drives me mad!