Dodgy British accents in films/tv

[sauvignonbonk]

Watched 2 things on Netflix recently (haunting of bly manor and Juliet, naked) which featured American/Australian actors putting on really dodgy British accents and it was so distracting! Surely just cast somebody who can do the accent correctly or is actually British themselves?

It must happen the other way round as well but I’d never be able to tell if somebody was doing a poor American accent.

Although not the same. I watched Meet Joe Black recently and was shocked at Brad Pitt doing cringing patois to the elderly lady.

Birmingham accents in things drive me up the wall, they are never ever done well. You always get a really thick accent that is more Black Country (not the same place and totally different to a brummy accent).

I remember Cat Deeley on the radio once taking the piss out of the brummy accent and putting on a Black Country accent, and she's from Birmingham! No one I know talks like that, it's much much more subtle. As the series went on Cilian Murphy got quite close I think but there are some really terrible ones on Peaky Blinders!

CherryValanc it's Wild Mountain Thyme and it's quite rightly being ripped to shreds here. Every accent is awful in it, Christopher Walken included. Only one that was worse was the clip of Debra Messing in the play the film is based on.

Yes. Polly in Peaky Blinders. Where exactly is that accent supposed to be from? I suspect it doesn't exist.

Oh my Don Cheadles accent in all 3 Oceans films was just painful to hear

@RuggerHug

CherryValanc it's Wild Mountain Thyme and it's quite rightly being ripped to shreds here. Every accent is awful in it, Christopher Walken included. Only one that was worse was the clip of Debra Messing in the play the film is based on.

Yes, that's the one.

Only read about it, not watch anything out of it.

I think whatshernane, who's actually English, in Normal People does a good accent. Weird Jamie Doran couldn't manage it.

See to me nothing is more painful than British and American actors attempting an Australian accent. I guess we all feel that way about our own accents as we are much more attuned to the nuances.

This is even worse when they are supposed to be from Perth. WA accent is half way between the eastern states and the UK (I blame the £10 pommes) much more subtle.

I am quite tuned in accents having developed 2 when I was a child, my family are Glasweigan and moved to England. I had an English accent at school and reverted to my Glasgow one at home.

Daphne from Frasier's so called Manchester accent always grated and the episodes with her brothers who all had various badly done English accents made some of those episodes almost unwatchable.
I recently returned a Kate Atkinson book on Audible as the narrators Scottish accent was so bad it was unlistenable. Replaced with Jason Isaacs who is not perfect but not too bad.

Daphne from Frasier's so called Manchester accent always grated

Came on to say Daphne. Over the top and she sounded like she was from all over the North West rather than Manchester.

Chris Hemsworth in the Huntsman 2 - or whatever it's called - I've tried to wipe it from my memory

Just remembered the 'Scottish' guy from sex and the city that Carrie had the terrible jack rabbit sex with! Surely a contender for the worst Scottish accent of all time!

Got confused! It was Samantha that slept with him!

@Tartyflette

Gwyneth Paltrow can do a decent English accent, viz Shakespeare in Love and Sliding Doors.

Quite good, compared to many, but always really nasal and whiny. Couldn’t stand her in Emma, for that reason.

@showmethegin

Birmingham accents in things drive me up the wall, they are never ever done well. You always get a really thick accent that is more Black Country (not the same place and totally different to a brummy accent).

I remember Cat Deeley on the radio once taking the piss out of the brummy accent and putting on a Black Country accent, and she's from Birmingham! No one I know talks like that, it's much much more subtle. As the series went on Cilian Murphy got quite close I think but there are some really terrible ones on Peaky Blinders!

Funnily enough, it drives me up the wall when they're meant to be from the Black Country and they do a Brummie accent! I find the Black Country accent a lot more subtle than Birmingham.

Not surprised that Karl Urban is from new Zealand his "mockney" is atrocious in The Boys.Brilliant series though.

James Marsters is often feted for his English accent in Buffy, but I found it so jarring when Spike was first introduced that I couldn’t watch for a while. And I speak as someone who ended up with a massive crush on Spike. I don’t know if he got better or if I just got used to it and classified it as Spike-accent not English-accent. Don’t get me started on Drusilla, or Irish-Angel.
I also find American shows use British swear words weirdly as well - either they go with something far too strong for the situation, or weirdly archaic, or they just use it wrongly.

@elQuintoConyo, that was my first thought when I read the title! (Just finished season 2, didn't see that ending coming!)

I agree that Gwyneth Paltrow is just too nasal to sound like a native and once you hear it you can't unhear it.

What I find really irritating is when actors try to do a Cornish accent. I am not Cornish but have lived here for 20 years and have never heard a convincing Cornish accent in any film or tv production. It's always some generic "West Country " accent that's usually much closer to a Bristol accent than a Cornish one. None of my Cornish friends or neighbours sound remotely like anyone on screen even though they have a recognisable accent. It's much softer in reality- it's amazing that they can't be bothered to get a Cornish person to give them some tips - looking at you Doc Martin and Poldark!!!

@elQuintoConyo agreed! Me and DH squirm at the accent. He must have gone to the Dick Van Dyke accent school!

I’ve seen, off the top of my head, Tom Wilkinson, Rosamund Pike, Ioan Gruffudd doing American accents in films, they sound quite convincing to me but I often wonder if they sound crap to American ears.

James Marsters is often feted for his English accent in Buffy, but I found it so jarring when Spike was first introduced that I couldn’t watch for a while.

With him there was the odd inflection that was wrong for a Britis person e.g he would say rubber ball with the stress on rub, rather than on ball like a British person would say.

Worst for me was War Horse film. Just random collection of regional British accents within the same household (very unlikely at the time) and not one Devon accent to be found. Almost as annoying as the thatched cottage on Dartmoor - roof wouldn't have lasted a single winter!

On the subject of buffy/angel, Alexis Denisof did a fantastic british accent. I was really surprised when I found out he was American!

Nothing beats Dick Van Dyke for a poor British accent.

@pigsDOfly

What exactly is a 'British' accent?

Accents vary enormously all over Britain.

An accent from Britain.