# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/21 "2012-03-28T16:40:47Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > 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. Was it better or worse than Julia Louis Dreyfus’? ---
**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, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/22 "2012-03-28T16:47:17Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Jonathan Hillerman and Daniel Davis, surely. Neither of those gentlemen ring any bells. What might I have seen them in? ---
**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, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/23 "2012-03-28T16:49:04Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > Neither of those gentlemen ring any bells. What might I have seen them in? Magnum PI and The Nanny, respectively. (Davis was also Professor Moriarty, on TNG.) ---
**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, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/24 "2012-03-28T16:49:41Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > This will very quickly turn into people saying how awful Laurie and Bambers’ accents are! 🙂 > [@MsWhatsit](#): > > I can’t imagine, at least not for Laurie. His accent sounds dead on to my American ear. > [@Corcaigh](#): > > FWIW I think Hugh Laurie sounds terrible in House, so much so I can’t watch the show. I win the thread! ---
**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, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/25 "2012-03-28T16:52:20Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Magnum PI and The Nanny, respectively. (Davis was also Professor Moriarty, on TNG.) Ah, it’s been many, many years since I saw Magnum PI. I don’t think I knew the guy’s name then, either. Never heard of The Nanny, I’m afraid. But even if I had heard of 'em, I’d still stand by my “can’t think of any offhand” - the OP was asking about “Brittish or Austrailian TV shows” (whatever a “Brittish” or an “Austrailian” is; probably something like an Ammerician). ---
**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, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/26 "2012-03-28T16:55:13Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > 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? The Iron Lady - British Shakespeare in Love - British/American production: British/US writers, British Director, US Producer Bridget Jones - British ---
**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, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/27 "2012-03-28T17:03:12Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > But even if I had heard of 'em, I’d still stand by my “can’t think of any offhand” - the OP was asking about “Brittish or Austrailian TV shows” (whatever a “Brittish” or an “Austrailian” is; probably something like an Ammerician). For what it’s worth, Davis was also in The Prestige – which arguably fits the OP’s “films” criteria – as the proper British judge dealing with Michael Caine at the outset. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/28 "2012-03-28T17:05:16Z")
> [@Small\_Clanger](#): > > This is Spinal Tap, spot on suburban London\* accent) I can recall some Brits refusing to believe that that was not their native accent. ---
**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, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/29 "2012-03-28T17:09:26Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > I win the thread! You only have “person” so far! You said “people”! Premature declaration of thread winning! ---
**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, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/30 "2012-03-28T17:15:06Z")
And, upon checking IMDB, I see that Hillerman played John Watson – to Edward Woodward as Sherlock Holmes – in a British television movie, _“Hands of a Murderer.”_ ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/31 "2012-03-28T17:19:06Z")
What about the “great” Jonathan Harris (Dr. Smith from Lost in Space)? Maybe he falls into the Hillerman category? ---
**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, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/32 "2012-03-28T17:43:32Z")
How about Vincent Price? ---
**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, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/33 "2012-03-28T17:50:17Z")
Vincent Price used a British accent? ---
**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, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/34 "2012-03-28T17:54:25Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Vincent Price used a British accent? I think _Theatre of Blood_ counts. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/35 "2012-03-28T17:59:03Z")
I guess Irish accents are technically non-UK, but Brad Pitt in _Snatch_? ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/36 "2012-03-28T18:13:15Z")
The OP asks for suggestions from British TV programmes and gets almost entirely suggestions from British movies and American TV shows. 😃 Perhaps that’s just an indication of how few Americans there are being British on British TV shows. I guess there’s enough TV being made in the US that there’s no need for them to move. I can’t actually think of any except the aforementioned Gillian Anderson (Great Expectations and a couple of other British mini-series that I haven’t seen), if she even counts. We had a thread a while before about that bloke from Magnum PI; I was one of many who hadn’t even realised he was supposed to be English. He had that peculiar faux-English accent that a lot of American actors used to have (British actors have a similar faux-American one, particularly in radio plays), which doesn’t actually sound like an English accent at all but does enunciate the Ts and drop the Rs. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/37 "2012-03-29T10:37:17Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > I guess Irish accents are technically non-UK, but Brad Pitt in _Snatch_? Why? Northern Ireland was part of the UK last I checked. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/38 "2012-03-29T10:55:39Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Obligatory reference to Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. Dick Van Dyke did excellent accent work in Mary Poppins. The senior Mr Dawes. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/39 "2012-03-29T11:00:57Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Why? Northern Ireland was part of the UK last I checked. That wasn’t a Northern Irish accent. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/40 "2012-03-29T11:26:32Z")
Continuing the hijack, having first encountered Adrian Lester in _Primary Colors_ I was surprised to discover that he was British. Emma Thompson’s accent was, alas, not as good. I will also mention that UK television shows do feature a lot of British actors doing _appalling_ American accents (_Spooks_, I’m looking at you here). If there are any American actors doing good British accents on UK television they’re doing them so well I haven’t noticed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032.md?page=3)