# Any UK films / TV where Americans use flawless UK accents? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 28, 2012, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032 "2012-03-28T11:28:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/1 "2012-03-28T11:28:59Z")
There are a lot of American shows where a main character is played by an Brittish or Austrailian actor who speaks with an American accent. Often they do this so well that most of the audience doesn’t realize they are not, in fact, American. Some examples: Hugh Laurie - House Jamie Bamber - Battlestar Galactica Stephen Moyer - True Blood Damian Lewis - Band of Brothers, Homeland (and actually, I actually thought his Brittish accent, which I assume was his actual speaking voice, sounded really fake in the film Your Highness) Are there any examples of American actors speaking with flawless local accents on Brittish or Austrailian TV shows? Madonna doesn’t count. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/2 "2012-03-28T11:33:22Z")
This will very quickly turn into people saying how awful Laurie and Bambers’ accents are! 🙂 I can think of some pretty good movie roles where Americans have put on good British accents (Bridget Jones, Iron Lady immediately springing to mind, but there are many more). TV, I can’t think of anything offhand. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/3 "2012-03-28T11:36:57Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > This will very quickly turn into people saying how awful Laurie and Bambers’ accents are!. I can’t imagine, at least not for Laurie. His accent sounds dead on to my American ear. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/4 "2012-03-28T11:53:03Z")
Connie Booth wasn’t bad. She sounded like a Brit who’d lived in the states for a while. Renee Zelwegger was very good too. She got the intonation brilliantly, as well as getting the accent about 98% there, but there was one vowel that was consistently wrong. IIRC it was the ‘aw’ sound that you hear in ‘water’ in English accents, which is something that my American ex-gf had problems with too. I haven’t seen The Iron Lady yet so I’ll reserve judgement on Meryl Streep these days - though her rendition in the trailer sounds pretty amazing - but the stuff I’ve heard of hers in the past has been damn good. The winner is Gwyneth Paltrow. Her English accents are stunningly good. I say that in the plural because she has done more than one - in Sliding Doors and Shakespeare in Love. In the latter I heard one solitary vowel slip and no more. Utterly convincing. Why no men, I wonder? Is it because we English are seen as effete? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/5 "2012-03-28T11:55:22Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > TV, I can’t think of anything offhand. Jonathan Hillerman and Daniel Davis, surely. ---
**Author:** ![kjckjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@kjckjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kjckjc)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/6 "2012-03-28T12:00:06Z")
I took the OP to be asking about Americans in UK TV/films, not Americans playing Brits in American TV/films, but in US TV I am led to believe Alexis Denisof’s was pretty good in Buffy/Angel. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/7 "2012-03-28T12:04:08Z")
> [@kjckjc](#): > > I took the OP to be asking about Americans in UK TV/films, not Americans playing Brits in American TV/films, but in US TV I am led to believe Alexis Denisof’s was pretty good in Buffy/Angel. I thought it was, but he did have the advantage of living and working in the UK for several years. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/8 "2012-03-28T12:04:32Z")
This is Spinal Tap, spot on suburban London\* accents. \*Squatney I believe 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/9 "2012-03-28T12:09:53Z")
> [@kjckjc](#): > > I took the OP to be asking about Americans in UK TV/films, not Americans playing Brits in American TV/films Robert Downey Jr apparently did quite well as Chaplin and Sherlock Holmes. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/10 "2012-03-28T12:43:31Z")
Gilliam Anderson is flawless in her British TV roles, although she did grow up in London which is clearly cheating. I agree that Gwyneth Paltrow is excellent. Rene Zellweger had a pretty could stab at it, although if you study her accent too closely it does sound a little laboured. Can’t think of any men. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/11 "2012-03-28T13:53:50Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Gilliam Anderson is flawless in her British TV roles, although she did grow up in London which is clearly cheating. I agree that Gwyneth Paltrow is excellent. Rene Zellweger had a pretty could stab at it, although if you study her accent too closely it does sound a little laboured. > > Can’t think of any men. I thought Paltrow was brilliant but something about Zellweger seemed off to me, a little bit over the top. Perhaps I haven’t been around enough Sloane types. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/12 "2012-03-28T13:55:56Z")
Kevin Costner. _Ducks and runs away_ ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/13 "2012-03-28T14:23:29Z")
Obligatory reference to Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/14 "2012-03-28T15:26:58Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Renee Zelwegger was very good too. She got the intonation brilliantly, as well as getting the accent about 98% there > > Gwyneth Paltrow. Her English accents are stunningly good. Agreed, but I think Meryl is the queen of the accents 😃 > [@kjckjc](#): > > I am led to believe Alexis Denisof’s was pretty good in Buffy/Angel. It was, I was surprised to hear he wasn’t actually English! > [@Small\_Clanger](#): > > This is Spinal Tap, spot on suburban London\* accents. LOL, yes! FWIW I think Hugh Laurie sounds terrible in House, so much so I can’t watch the show. ---
**Author:** ![glaeken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@glaeken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glaeken)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/15 "2012-03-28T15:35:40Z")
David Anders in Hero’s was very good as was Philip Winchester in Strike back. Both so good that I was really surprised to find out they were not English. You often hear Americans in US programs doing English accents and even when they are pretty good there is normally something a little off but with these two I was genuinely surprised when I found out they were American. Strike back is actually really mixed up as a program when it comes to nationalities as the main English guy is played by an American and the main American guy is played by Australian. ---
**Author:** ![glaeken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@glaeken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glaeken)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/16 "2012-03-28T15:56:16Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Jonathan Hillerman and Daniel Davis, surely. I was never surprised to find out Jonathan Hillerman was American. There is something not quite right about his accent. It’s almost a caricature of a particular type of English accent. I think he gets points for consistency though as whatever accent it was he could do it well. I think of Spike in Buffy as similar. It’s not really an accent from any real place but the delivery is consistent even if it was not accurate to any particular real world accent. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/17 "2012-03-28T16:03:24Z")
I won’t say that Hugh Laurie’s, Jamie Bamber’s, or Andrew Lincoln’s American accents are bad. They just sometimes sound labored. Although, when he sings New Orleans-style blues, Laurie sounds completely natural. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/18 "2012-03-28T16:11:00Z")
I am curious how many of these fit the OP. I know _Buffy_, _Magnum PI_, and _Sherlock Holmes_ were American. What about _Shakespeare In Love_, _The Iron Lady_, and the others? ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/19 "2012-03-28T16:13:28Z")
I’ve mentioned this before, but speaking as an Australian, I don’t have nearly enough eyes to roll to express how eye-rollingly _terrible_ Streep’s attempt at an Australian accent was. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/20 "2012-03-28T16:18:16Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > I am curious how many of these fit the OP. I know _Buffy_, _Magnum PI_, and _Sherlock Holmes_ were American. Wiki lists _Sherlock Holmes_ as a “British-American action mystery film” shot in England with a British director and a British producer. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032.md?page=2)