MovieChat Forums > Frasier (1993) Discussion > The [odd] British accents in this show?

The [odd] British accents in this show?


Daphne is from Manchester, in northern England - and even though her ''northern'' accent is good (Jane herself was born near London), it's nothing like Manchester, which really is like the Gallagher brothers from English band Oasis (on their US tour, the local TV stations added subtitles! Lol)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QR6u_9m5lY

I'm guessing that Jane Leeves tones it down so that Americans can understand it?

Oddly, Daphne's brothers all had the weirdest accents, to say that they were all raised in Manchester- Simon (Oz actor Anthony M. LaPaglia from 'Without a Trace') talks like a Londoner and made several references to Braveheart and ''Australia's fave son'', not something most English would brag about.

In the episode where Niles and Daphne are finally declaring their love and possibly eloping, the Moon family burst in - Stephen Moon aka Richard E Grant (S.African actor) and Michael Moon aka Robbie Coltrane (Scottish comic/actor) have other, non-northern accents.

Being an English northerner myself (not Manchester), I can tell when the actors and actresses in Frasier are Daphne's family and friends are not from Manchester, or even England.

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This kind of always happens in American sitcoms.

For example, the actor who played Geoffrey in Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air was actually British, but instead of using his real voice put on that incredibly fake British accent for the show. Nobody in Britain actually talks like that, but because Americans think they do / want them to, the actors are asked to exaggerate it so the American viewers will understand where he's from.

The same thing happened in Friends when they went to London. All the actors used were famous Brits, none of which were talking with their actual voices. Their real accents didn't sound "British enough" for the Americans to understand, so they were asked to put on fake British accent.

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That's weird, because Americans and Canadians I've met always understood my accent (a bit like Sean Bean)?

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Maybe it's just that the sitcoms don't give the American public enough credit. Or maybe it's just a lazy stereotype.

My point is, the American sitcom version of a British accent is usually pretty fake.

At least Jane Leeves' sounded like a British accent, because it was one. They just got the region wrong.

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Yep, I always thought Daphne's family's accents were ridiculous. Especially the choice to have Daphne (try to) sound Macunian but her brother has a broad London accent that also gets it wrong because the actor was an Australian apparently trying to do Cockney.

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Yes, I also noticed the accents were all over the place and I'm not even British

But Richard E. Grant was born and raised in Swaziland, not South Africa.

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The closest to a 'genuine' British portrayal in the show was, probably, Brian Cox in his couple of episodes as Daphne's dad. He still played it a little broad, but was just about believable as a working class Mancunian.

One of the worst was in 'The Two Mrs. Cranes' - the actor playing Daphne's ex-boyfriend Clive was shockingly bad, an early warning of things to come.

I have always found it hard to accept that Anthony LaPaglia won an Emmy for his horrific, strangulated playing of Simon Moon. He is a good actor but he was atrocious in this role.

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Just watched that episode again and, even though Cox is a great actor, his northern English accent (there are many, but he's meant to be from Manchester) is dodgy at best? Bless him, he's a Scot, so does a great attempt.

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Is it just me or any accent other than plain english (us or uk or australian) sounds fake?
I like plain uk accent, it's clearer to me than us accent. But any other accent seems like they are forcing themself to speak in a weird "secret" or "cool" way for no reason. Even Scottish, which I like a lot, sounds added on crap to make it different.
Speak english, you moron!

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What about the mom?

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Yeah, she does the best job, though it's more of a generic accent rather than Mancunian.

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I've also noticed that the accents of American characters in UK shows, whether the actors are actually American or not, is usually overplayed. Apparently the shows' makers think British audiences need or want American characters to have broad, caricatured accents.

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