How can the TV companies get away with being so patronising?
I would say that it would depend on the strength of the accent and the amount of regional slang they use in their responses. Consider that, if the programme was produced for a world wide audience, many international viewers have only ever encountered the ‘silver spoon’ version of English. You only need to watch American actors playing English parts to get a good idea of what the world expects us all to sound like! I’m English born and bred but, for my sins, a southerner. I moved to the Midlands to go to University and it took me a good few months to get used to Wolverhampton / Dudley / Brum / Cannock accents. I still stuggle with some broad Newcastle and Scottish accents – I’m not trying to be patronising, I just haven’t spent a lot of time around people with these accents. Although I do feel rather ashamed of myself when I have to ask them to repeat themselves slowly for my benefit! Actual language is different also – you only have to take the many different terms for a bread roll / b
