Doctor Who: northern accents baffle American viewers
Huddersfield heroine Jodie Whittaker and Sheffield setting have some Who fans reaching for the subtitles
Jodie Whittaker’s debut as Doctor Who’s first female Time Lord has received the thumbs-up from critics and viewers, with her spirited performance singled out as a particular highlight of the new series.
However, for some fans from across the pond, the shattering of the glass Tardis ceiling took a back seat to a far more practical obstacle: understanding the show’s northern accents.
The Sheffield setting of the first installment of the drama, combined with Whittaker’s natural Huddersfield twang, had some Americans scratching their heads.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Whittaker is not the first northern Time Lord - Manchester-born Christopher Eccleston kept his native accent when he played the ninth Doctor in 2005 - but with a supporting cast of northern co-stars and Bradley Walsh sporting a cockney inflection to boot, the latest aural landscape all became a bit much for some.
And it wasn’t just the accents:
Satirising the reaction to the casting of the show’s first female Doctor, Mashable’s Chris Taylor described the decision to feature broad northern brogues as “a very brave and controversial decision, unprecedented in the show's 55-year history”.
Luckily, he added, the runaway success of Game of Thrones has already brought Yorkshire accents to the world, “so hopefully most American audiences can understand what the hell this Sheffield crew is talking about”.
But this isn’t the first time that Americans have been stumped by Whittaker’s native accent.
During an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to promote the show last week, an American subtitler failed to recognise that Whittaker was talking about her hometown of Huddersfield, instead rendering it phonetically as “Hoodezfield”.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Today's political cartoons - November 3, 2024
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - presidential pitching, wavering convictions, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Why Man United finally lost patience with ten Hag
Talking Point After another loss United sacked ten Hag in hopes of success in the Champion's League
By The Week UK Published
-
Who are the markets backing in the US election?
Talking Point Speculators are piling in on the Trump trade. A Harris victory would come as a surprise
By The Week UK Published
-
Doctor Who: 73 Yards – a 'stone-cold classic piece of British TV sci-fi'
The Week Recommends Millie Gibson steals the limelight in this 'genuinely disturbing' episode
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
Polyamory is having a moment(s)
Why Everyone's Talking About The latest in loving more — and those who want less of it
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
The celebrity winners of 2023
Why everyone's talking about Girl power's still got it as Taylor Swift, Barbie and Britney all come out on top
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
TV to watch in December, from 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians' to 'What If...?'
The Week Recommends Spend your December with Mr. D and Dr. Who
By Brendan Morrow, The Week US Published
-
Doctor Who: 60 years of time-travelling tomfoolery
Why Everyone's Talking About Special episodes celebrate show's past as Whovians look forward to new seasons ahead
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
From 'thunks' to mixed reality, the future of books is interactive
The Explainer What is in store for literature in an increasingly digital world?
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Ncuti Gatwa: ‘stratospheric rise’ from couch-surfer to Doctor Who
Why Everyone’s Talking About The 29-year-old Sex Education star will be the first black actor to play the Time Lord full time
By The Week Staff Published
-
If Trump returns to Twitter, he'll win every news cycle
Talking Point
By Joel Mathis Published