I thought it was just me, but my co-worker complained about this the other day, and asked if I’d noticed that whenever a British show comes on TV, the volume has to be turned way up in order to hear all the dialogue. It’s not just a matter of understanding the various British accents, because both of us are long-time fans of British TV and have to problems there…it’s just hearing them. And it’s mostly in dramas. The speakers seem to talk away from the camera a lot, and mumble more. Are we just crazy, or have others noticed it, too?
I’m British and I have to agree with you.
I find that dialogue is (in general) very quiet in our drama programmes, but incidental music and sound effects tend to be really loud. No idea why this should be probably down to the direction/production. This means that I constantly have to adjust the volume while watching as I hate really loud tv.
Maybe someone will explain this.
They do seem to keep the volume down quite a bit, and there’s a lot of speaking too far away from the mike. This seems to be some sort of recent esthetic decision, as older British shows (especially the comedies) are very much like stage plays, with everything enunciated clearly and the mikes quite close. I had problems with a few actors and actresses, notably Felicity Kendall, who sometimes sounded like she had a mouth full of marbles (which didn’t stop me from worshipping her), but overall I never had much difficulty until fairly recently.
During World War II, the British government grew extremely worried that Hitler’s spies would try to overhear secret meetings. The BBC, after all, broadcast coded messages to the resistance in occupied countries. Similar worries applied to the many other secret facilities such as Bletchley Hall.
Parliament passed a law banning all but one microphone in Britain. That microphone was carried by a special courier with an armed escort and unlocked from its case only when two BBC executives could produce the same passcode.
Unfortunately, after the war this bit of legislation was overlooked and the prohibition was kept in place. (Although the armed escort was eliminated as a cost-saving measure.) Any time the BBC or the independent channels wanted to broadcast a show, they would call for the one microphone and hang it in the air in the middle of the set, hoping to catch all the words of the actors as they circulated underneath.
Or at least this is the explanation that my wife and I made up for the mystery of the ubiquitously bad British sound. 
That’s why we leave the subtitles on permanently, when watching BBCus.
I have always seen it the other way round - Why do we have to turn the volume way down for the adverts?
(no longer applies because now I just mute)
My guess would be that the British programs in question don’t use as much audio compression as American programs do. Audio compression automatically brings up the level of softer, quieter sounds while at the same time keeping the louder sounds at the same level, effectively squishing all the quiet, medium, and loud sounds into a “smaller”, less dynamic mix.
Commercial radio and television programming is traditionally compressed a LOT-- in part because receivers/playback devices that consumers use vary greatly in quality and specifications. To try and make the audio signal sound good for as many consumers as possible hefty compression is used. That way the guy with the $50,000 surround-sound, super-duper theatre system and the dude watching TV on some tiny, cheap old set with a $2.00 speaker about 1" in diameter can both hear what is going on.
BUT all that compression removes much of the dynamics from the mix so the audiophile is missing out on all the subtle nuances that he paid 1,000s of bucks to be able to hear.
It’s possible that some British producers and sound guys just prefer to use a bit less compression in order to preserve more of the natural “ebb and flow” of the audio level changes than you are accustomed to hearing. If you are one of the many Americans who basically have the TV on all day long with people coming and going and conversations occurring amidst the viewing than the audio mix can sound a little off. It’s probably mixed more like the sound in a movie theater (which is very different that the more-compressed mix on a DVD).
It’s the same way with most recorded classical music (and some jazz and other genres). Very little compression is used because critical listeners want to hear as much of the music’s natural dynamics as possible. Telly viewers are becoming more aurally critical and demanding all the time. In some countries/cultures that may be happening more quickly than in others.
Years ago I noticed I always turned up the volume when the BBC news was reporting from Northern Ireland. I still do; I just can’t understand Ulster accents unless I listen to them at extra volume. Why Ulster accents give me more trouble than the many other varieties of UK accents is another riddle, for which I have no answer.
Lately I have to turn everything up unless it’s PBS.
Cell phones are destroying your mind.
And British ads are not as loud and will soon be restricted even more to the long term average volume, so no diving for the remote when the ads start (not that the BBC has ads, but ITV does). Actually, this is part of the answer - BBC drama shows run uninterrupted so you adjust the volume at the start and don’t have problems with ads being too loud.
Si
Wooaahhh, Bodyform! Bodyform for youuuuuuuu!
That ad used to scare the living daylights out of me when I was in the UK back in the '90s.