# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/61 "2012-03-30T06:35:10Z")
I’ve just started watching Game of Thrones (i’m on ep. 4), and American actor Peter Dinklage does a pretty good job of an English accent, playing Tyrion Lannister. ---
**Author:** ![Charley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/97f17d/32.png) [@Charley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charley)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/62 "2012-03-30T06:50:33Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > I’m not British but I think James Marsters (Spike in Buffy) did a pretty good Brit accent. I believe he based it on Tony Head (Giles)'s actual accent, while Head adopted a different one. I know we’ve discussed this example in the past, but I respectfully disagree. It’s not awful, but it’s not good. I didn’t guess he was supposed to be English for quite some time. It’s more like a quite good American impression of an English accent than an actual English accent. Also, what **Candyman74** said. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/63 "2012-03-30T13:46:20Z")
> [@Charley](#): > > I know we’ve discussed this example in the past, but I respectfully disagree. It’s not awful, but it’s not good. I didn’t guess he was supposed to be English for quite some time. It’s more like a quite good American impression of an English accent than an actual English accent. > > Also, what **Candyman74** said. I’d be harsher, it was awful. I initially assumed the character was an American with an affected accent because he liked the punk and/or Billy Idol scene. Then I found out he was supposed to be a Londoner … ---
**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 30, 2012, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/64 "2012-03-30T13:48:22Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > I’d be harsher, it was awful. I initially assumed the character was an American with an affected accent because he liked the punk and/or Billy Idol scene. Then I found out he was supposed to be a Londoner … Maybe it was lampshaded a bit when a flashback of Spike’s early days revealed that his working-class London accent was itself an affectation. ---
**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 30, 2012, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/65 "2012-03-30T14:29:03Z")
> [@steveo1](#): > > To the Australian guy - Who didn’t tear up when Meryl said, “A dingo ate me baby”? You mean “A dingow ite moi byebye!” ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/66 "2012-03-30T15:20:44Z")
I thought Spike’s accent was pretty good, actually. But given that he was originally posh, from about a hundred years ago, and adopted this accent, and seems to have lived in the US since the seventies, his accent being a bit “wrong” is actually more accurate. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/67 "2012-03-30T15:26:34Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > I thought Spike’s accent was pretty good, actually. But given that he was originally posh, from about a hundred years ago, and adopted this accent, and seems to have lived in the US since the seventies, his accent being a bit “wrong” is actually more accurate. Yeah, I always thought it made sense for him to sound weird, considering he’d been living in California for lord knows how long. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/68 "2012-03-30T15:29:44Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > I’ve just started watching Game of Thrones (i’m on ep. 4), and American actor Peter Dinklage does a pretty good job of an English accent, playing Tyrion Lannister. You mean a good Westeros accent. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/69 "2012-03-30T17:18:13Z")
During a recent episode of _Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me!_, Gary Oldman revealed that he was assigned a dialect coach during the filming of _Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy_ to restore the purity of his British accent. ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/70 "2012-03-30T21:37:27Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > I win the thread! Hurrah! What did you get, a T-shirt? Can I see it? I helped you win!! > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Magnum PI and The Nanny, respectively. (Davis was also Professor Moriarty, on TNG.) **blushes** I thought both of them blokes were English. I saw Davis in something where he had an American accent and I thought it sounded silly! > [@Laggard](#): > > I can recall some Brits refusing to believe that that was not their native accent. I remember when I thought Spinal Tap was an actual documentary about a band > [@MsWhatsit](#): > > You only have “person” so far! You said “people”! Premature declaration of thread winning! Oh noes! ☹ > [@jjimm](#): > > That wasn’t a Northern Irish accent. Or Norn Iron even 😉 > [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > I’m not British but I think James Marsters (Spike in Buffy) did a pretty good Brit accent. I believe he based it on Tony Head (Giles)'s actual accent, while Head adopted a different one. and you heard Tony’s real accent in the episode where all the adults turned into teenagers (sorry, I can’t remember the title) “I’m your Watcher, and I want you to kick his bleedin’ teeth in” or words to that effect > [@SciFiSam](#): > > I thought Spike’s accent was pretty good, actually. But given that he was originally posh, from about a hundred years ago, and adopted this accent, and seems to have lived in the US since the seventies, his accent being a bit “wrong” is actually more accurate. I thought Spike sounded reasonably Cockney-ish, but it was ‘obvious’ he’d spent time living in another country. It was hilarious when he tried to affect an American (Texan?) accent in one episode. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/71 "2012-03-30T22:09:44Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > I guess Irish accents are technically non-UK, but Brad Pitt in _Snatch_? I just checked out that accent and it isn’t flawless, in fact in parts it’s awful. It’s very funny, but it’s not really that accurate, and has plenty of flaws. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/72 "2012-03-30T23:36:35Z")
No mention of Reese Witherspoon? She has pretty flawless accents in her films where she plays British roles (Importance of Being Earnest, Vanity Fair). Helps that they’re period pieces so the clear, enunciated upper crust English accent is completely in keeping. ---
**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 31, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/73 "2012-03-31T21:07:27Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I just checked out that accent and it isn’t flawless, in fact in parts it’s awful. It’s very funny, but it’s not really that accurate, and has plenty of flaws. I thought he was going for an extreme version of “(Northern) Irish Traveller”, the other Travellers in the film having a slightly less extreme version. I suspect that comedy was intended to trump authenticity at any rate. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/74 "2012-03-31T21:56:03Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I thought he was going for an extreme version of “(Northern) Irish Traveller”, the other Travellers in the film having a slightly less extreme version. I suspect that comedy was intended to trump authenticity at any rate. You don’t need the (Northern) bit. Irish travellers live in both Britain and Ireland (north and south). He’s doing a traveller accent and in parts it’s very good but he lets slip a few times and it just sounds wrong. Some of the other actors are just using typical regional Irish accents, not actual Irish traveller ones. I agree his performance is funny and that’s all that matters. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/75 "2012-03-31T22:19:48Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > It’s not the generic faux-American accent that bothers m\*\*e, it’s the faux-Texan one (which is the only regional accent Americans have, apparently). It’s so very, very wrong. > > Incidentally, I once taught a British children’s choir to sing with an American accent. They were stunningly good at it. I’ve heard a handful of British actors with really bad American accents - all the “Americans” in that _Doctor Who_ episode about Daleks in Depression-era New York, for example. Apparently, we sound very flat and very nasal to you all. Or we sound like Jethro Clampett. For what it’s worth, Kenneth Branagh’s American accent sounds decent to me. So does John Barrowman’s, but then, he isn’t faking it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/76 "2012-03-31T22:43:39Z")
The one that impresses me is Michael Caine. Listening to him, you’d never know he was born and raised in Tennessee. No, really. If you wait ten minutes you can look it up on Wikipedia. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/77 "2012-03-31T22:46:07Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > 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. It’s funny, until I saw this thread I was sure that Bamber’s accent in “Law and Order UK” was fake. Was he hamming it up a bit or was I just prejudiced by seeing BSG first, I wonder. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/78 "2012-03-31T22:53:01Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > I’ve heard a handful of British actors with really bad American accents - all the “Americans” in that _Doctor Who_ episode about Daleks in Depression-era New York, for example. Apparently, we sound very flat and very nasal to you all. Or we sound like Jethro Clampett. I’ve been watching The Wire, and Dominic West’s American accent is just…not good. I mean, it’s not comically bad. You can tell the guy is trying. He just sounds so incredibly British sometimes. Idris Elba, on the other hand (Stringer Bell on the show) has a flawless accent. I would never, ever, ever in a million years have guessed that guy is British. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/79 "2012-04-01T21:55:42Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Technically speaking, there’s no reason for us to assume that a modern English accent is any closer to a 13th Century English accent than a modern American accent is. Maybe something [like this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE0MtENfOMU)? ---
**Author:** ![elbravoiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@elbravoiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbravoiv)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032/80 "2012-04-07T00:48:21Z")
i thought brad pitt in snatch was pretty good…but i’m just an american who lived in britain for 4 years which is nowhere near enough time to understand you all [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-uk-films-tv-where-americans-use-flawless-uk-accents/617032.md?page=5)