English accents on TV
 

What do they call the English accent that the Top Gear gang and Matt Frei use on their programs? And on a program like....the Inbetweeners or Skins the accent sounds different but I don't know which one it is. I'm trying to learn to e able to pinpoint where an accent comes from an England but I'm still relatively new to it. And Johnathan Ross's?

Re: English accents on TV
 

Well Matt Frei is actually German, but was educated in his teenage years at a posh college in London and then went to Oxford. So he isn't a good example really as he doesn't have an accent of a particular English region.

The Inbetweeners (possibly the funniest show I've EVER seen) is set in London, and Skins is in the South West in Bristol. However the accents in them aren't particularly strong for those areas.

Onto Top Gear - Jeremy Clarkson is from Yorkshire and keeps a bit of his accent, James May is from Bristol (as per Skins) and Richard Hammond is from the midlands somewhere I think.

Jonathan Ross (thankfully soon to be ex-BBC!) is from London, but you probably want to ignore everything that comes form his mouth! I'm not a fan of his!

Re: English accents on TV
 

I think Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond are vaguely Brummie. James May sounds a bit "posh northern". No idea about Inbetweeners or Skins (never watched either). Jonathan Ross sounds a bit London-ish but I've no idea where he comes from originally.

Re: English accents on TV
 

.......But spent a good chunk of his formative years in Yorkshire then Lancashire. (Specifically at Lancaster University - where I went :thumbup:)

Re: English accents on TV
 

Ah right, I thought he might have been off somewhere else, he's not hugely Bristolian sounding.

Re: English accents on TV
 

No he isn't. Mind you, Clarkson doesn't sound too Yorkshire to me :)

Re: English accents on TV
 

I would give up now chrisfromusa, the Brits seem to have a problem too.

Re: English accents on TV
 

He's probably spent too long drinking Pimms in a posh London suburb to sound like a real Yorkshireman.

Re: English accents on TV
 

You make a good point there!!!

Re: English accents on TV
 

How about

Benny Hill?

Hugh Grant?

Emma Watson?

That girl from Titanic?

That one guy who played a Yank in Band of Brothers?

Re: English accents on TV
 

Haha the girl would be Kate Winslet and the "yank" in BoB is Simon Pegg :p

Re: English accents on TV
 

for some reason my Mrs has always found it hilarious whenever she hears Steven Gerrard speak on telly

Re: English accents on TV
 

hahaha, yes, you have to really concentrate when he speaks. Jaime Carragher is even worse. I'm not even sure that guy is speaking English sometimes!!

Re: English accents on TV
 

....Charlie Chaplin??

Damian Lewis.... London I think - he was so convincing (as an American) that some cast and crew didn't believe he was British.

Re: English accents on TV
 

SWMBO says that she honestly has trouble understanding my brothers when they talk, on account of their geordie accents have stayed much broader than my, well travelled and much mellowed version.