Gary Oldman FTW. Why FTW? I saw him on a talkshow and he started speaking and the host said basically, “What?! You’re British?” Of course this talk show host was not the best at prepping for his guests. IIR, it was the same host that after Shrek came out, asked Eddie Murphy if he ever thought about having a singing career.
It took me 5 1/2 seasons (binge-watching on Netflix, that is) of Nip/Tuck to catch a teeny flaw in Julian McMahon’s “Dr Christian Troy” American accent. He was yelling at someone about something and a little bit of Aussie showed up in the word “out”. Had me fooled until then.
And in one episode, he did one of the funniest bad American accents I’ve heard. “I’m a friend of Xander’s-es.”
I thought the Spike accent was universally ridiculed by real Brits.
He modeled his accent on Anthony Stewart Head’s real accent. Head’s accent on the show is not how he really talks, although there is one episode where he gets to use it. I believe it’s the one where all the adults become immature due to some drug in a specific food, and he hooks up with Buffy’s mom.
Yes, I knew that. But I was under the impression that he had not done so successfully, at least from the point of view of actual British people.
That was the episode “Bandcandy”. And for anyone unclear on how “hook up” is to be interpreted, that means sex on the hood of a cop car with Buffy’s mom. Twice. Which we don’t really find out about for sure until a few episodes later.
Marsters doing a Brit doing a bad American accent (I think it was supposed to be Texan or something) was effin’ hilarious, although it did not occur in that episode. On the other hand, that “I’m a friend of Xander’s” was supposed to be funny. And it did sound like, at least to me, a bad American accent done by a Brit.
Disclaimer: I’m an American, not an actual British person, so my opinions on British accents don’t carry much authority. That said…
I wasn’t a fan of the show and only saw it when over at a friend’s place. The first time I saw an episode with the Spike character I thought his English accent was very bad, so much so that I assumed the character was meant to be an American doing a poor job of faking a British accent because he thought it was more punk or something. My friend had to explain to me that the character was really supposed to be English.
I’m british and a big buffy fan (I go to feminist buffy meet-ups 
) and I’ve never heard anyone complain about it. He slips sometimes, but is overall good.
Besides, the character is supposed to have originally had an rp accent, not cockney, and he’s been living in the us since the 70s - it actually makes sense for his accent to vary occasionally.
See, that was my impression. But I thought I had been told by British people that it wasn’t good. Maybe I misunderstood.
Well I am English and knew straight away that James Masters was not English. I actually liked the accent he did overall and his delivery was very consistent but it’s just not right for any particular regional accent. It was actually fine though given his back story and how someone’s accent might change.
Poppy Montgomery has lived in the US since she was 18. She’s one of those people who just pick up the accent she is around. In without a trace she tries to hide all the Australian influences. In Unforgettable I don’t think she did. Some funny inflections came out. But its exactly how she speaks on talk shows.
I’m good at picking out when something is wrong about accents. Anna Torv sounded off to me. Couldn’t pinpoint where she was from until I looked it up but I knew she wasn’t American.
Ross McCall. Scottish actually. He is very good. He has lots of credits on American TV. He just had a reoccuring role on White Collar. I never would have known he was not American. I recently saw him on an episode of Luther.
About half the cast of Band of Brothers was English. Most did an outstanding job. Marc Warren who played Albert Blithe was awful. That and the fact that they totally screwed up Blithe’s story makes that one episode unwatchable.
I could never understand the praise for the accents on that show. It always sounded horrible to me.
In the beginning I could hear problems with the accent. Later he grew into it more and it became perfect.
Others have mentioned Simon Baker. I think his accent is very good but a little strange. Someone else on the show is much better. Owain Yeoman plays Rigsby and I never would have guessed he was from Wales. Except for the name of course.
I watched the show Eli Stone a few years ago and I had no idea until now with Elementary that Jonny Lee Miller was British. Of course back then I wasn’t looking/listening for it, but either he didn’t slip up too much, or I really wasn’t paying attention. The 2nd option is very very possible. Finally, a non-American on U.S. TV not having to fake a U.S. accent.
Nicole Kidman sounds solidly American in many of her film roles. During interviews, she’s as Aussie as can be.