Why are regional accents so over egged on TV?

[MozzchopsThirty]

Watched the one show tonight, now I'm a geordie now living in wales so I'm no stranger to a good accent!

But why are they all so OTT on tv, Alex Jones is ridiculous and Chris Ramsey's accent is so bad it sounds like he's pretending to be geordie.

Lorraine Kelly is another fine example.

I mean we don't want to go back to the BBC world service but why can't people just talk in their normal voice

Lorraine Kelly hasn’t got a particularly thick accent. Do you actually know any Scottish people?

Danny Dyer's accent makes me laugh, it sounds so put on. Not come across anyone who genuinely speaks like him unless they are pretending they are more street than they are.

@Wilko312 she was from Scotland Road, which is pretty central
But she still played on the accent, agreed about sporty spice...bad wool.

Tess Daly’s is deliberately exaggerated IMO. Annoying.

You live in Wales and don’t know anyone who speaks like Alex Jones? You need to get more!

John Bishop’s another one - professional scouser

I remember hearing the late Bob Crowe (leader of RMT union) on Any Questions. His cockney accent sounded so exaggerated it was unreal.

I don’t think any of those people have especially broad accents and I’m a soft sountherner. I think some people are hyper sensitive to accents. Loads of people I don’t think have much of a distinct accent (Lauren lavern for example) other people fall over themselves about.

What’s up with gavin Williamson? I don’t think he has a discernible accent.

I think they just sound exaggerated when next to all the rp voices on tv. Like when there is the token Brit on US TV and they sound really fake even when it's just a perfectly normal British actor talking normally.

Lauren Lavern has really reduced her regional accent over the years. Not sure if intentionally or just because she's lived down south for years. Her accent was much stronger when she started out. I'd not heard her for years and couldn't believe the change.
Tess Daly got torn apart when she started to speak more RP, so assume she's now reverted back to her usual accent.

Cilla was from Vauxhall and spoke exactly like one of my aunts, from Everton, off Scotty Rd.

Sporty was born in Whiston but grew up in Widnes, has a different accent from my St Helens woolly cousins

John Bishop's from Huyton- ish. So think Ken Dodd, Knotty Ash, very similar. I always jump when I hear him, he sounds just like my grandad did.

So no, I don't think any of those accents are unusual. They sound like various generations/sides of my own extended family.