Weatherfield is positively brimming with immigrants these days. Although from not too far afield. Yorkshire in fact. For many years now, that familiar Lancashire twang of Coronation Street residents has been diluted somewhat and there seem to be less true 'locals' than ever before.
Hayley Cropper's lovely dialect is from Accrington, in deepest Lancashire and back in the 1960s and 70s this was pretty much how the whole cast spoke, either naturally or acted. It was a very working class sound and perfect for the Lowryesque, industrial setting of Coronation Street in the Salford of the not-so-swinging Sixties.
I first noticed the invasion of the Yorkshire folk however back when the Harris family were in residence at the first half of the last decade. It was written into their story that they had moved from Sheffield under witness protection and sure enough, Tommy, Angela, Katy and Craig all had the same Yorkshire accent. Their origins were clear enough, but what about David Platt? He was born on the Street but wouldn't sound out of place propping up the bar in Emmerdale's Woolpack. And Liz McDonald, certainly another one from across the border and of course Beverley Callard appeared in Emmerdale at one point. Then there are others like the much missed Vera Duckworth, Ivy Tilsley, Des Barnes and the more recent Becky McDonald, sister Kylie, Gary Windass...the list goes on.
Kevin Webster has a different but arguably more accurate accent than Hayley considering the area in which Coronation Street is set. Michael Le Vell, who plays Kevin, was born in Newton Heath which is very close to central Manchester. Despite being Scottish, John Michie who plays killer Karl doesn't do a bad job of a similar 'Manc' accent, much better than his Mrs. Rob James-Collier had a great broad Manchester twang too. Some of the cast hail from South Manchester and Cheshire so characters like Steve and Eileen have accents that are a little less broad. There have been accents from all around the country, a good number from London, most specifically the cockney Baldwin clan. The writers probably avoid tipping the balance with non-northern accents, but it's probably not the end of the world if large chunks of the cast originate from the Dales.
However if you want to hear the true Corrie accent, listen to characters like little Simon Barlow, Chesney, Sally Wester, Dierdre Barlow and of course Hayley. Flippin' great.
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30 comments:
Becky? I understood Katherine Kelly is from Bolton. Why would she have a Yorkshire accent? Craig's accent is very different to Beth's and to my ear Craig sounds more accurate to the region.
No Katherine Kelly's from Barnsley and her Yorkshire accent was pretty strong in the show. Obviously toned down for new roles! Beth sounds very South Manchester, I thought Craig sounded quite similar.
or, if you're watching from Canada, it all sounds "british" and you'd never know :)
haha yes very true!
Just when I thought that (as a Canadian) I was beginning to detect some of the differences in British accents, you've gone and confused me!
Sorry! Actually you probably wouldn't find it easy to differentiate between Lancashire and Yorkshire but I'm from the area and have a keen ear for accents so it jumps out at me :)
You didn't mention Kirkeh, pure Manchester accent, Andy Whyment was born and raised in Salford.
Just because a person is from Canada does not mean that they don't hear the difference
There has been a similar discussion in the past and it's very interesting. I think someone said that Alf Roberts was the one who had the best accent on the show - but Bryan Mosley was from Leeds so I dunno.
I find it great that among the various dialects you get the pronounced accents of both Ken and Emily.
I think Bet Lynch had a great Lancashire accent as well - Julie Goodyear is from Heywood, Lancashire.
I knew a man who was a Lancashire lad and he always said that the actor playing Gary Mallet was very true Lanky and he also thought Bryan Mosley did a top job too. I'm Canadian but spend time in Manchester and Salford every year and I could peg Liam Connor (Rob James-Collier) straight off. Mostly I can't really tell Lancashire from Yorkshire unless it's deep Lancashire like Julie H. I have a friend from Blackburn and she's very similar.
Good point about Julie Goodyear, and Vicky Entwistle! Fred Eliott was a good one too however that wasn't real.
Betty had a very East Midlands accent - Derbyshire/Leicestershire. Vicky Entwistle always sounded a bit 'Blackburn' but I could be wrong!
Thanks for this explanation; interesting.
I'd been wondering about Hayley's distinct accent.
Now I understand why Michelle Collins' acquired accent never sounded off to me.
What I've found interesting is how very different actors like Barbara Knox and David Neilson sound, as themselves, in interviews.
This is really interesting. As has already been noted, most of this is lost on us overseas folk! I can tell if someone is Irish, Scots, Cockney or from Newcastle or Liverpool, but that's about as far as it goes. Mind you, I remember noticing Kate Ford's accent as Tracy was nothing like her predecessor Dawn Acton!
njblas, you're so right about Dawn Acton and Kate Ford;didn't the former sound a bit adenoidal?
I also have trouble identifying regional accents and dialects, but find it all fascinating just the same.
I can't the difference as i'm from NZ :)
Count me on the overseas tone deaf team. I can kinda sorta separate that 'plum in the gob' educated London (Upstairs), Cornwall (Louisa Glasson, right?), and Liverpool (the Beatles), but other after that, it's pretty tough. Thanks for this post, now I'll pay a bit more attention. Maybe one day I'll even be able to detect Inspector Lewis' often cited Geordie accent.
An interesting one is Audrey Roberts. Sue Nicholls, who plays her is very posh in real life, and even though she's a fantastic stalwart of the show, her accent is quite peculiar and probably couldn't be described as from anywhere in particular!
I always found it funny that Michelle sounded different accent wise to her brother Liam. He sounded Manc through and through.
I've often wondered what accent Hayley has, so thanks for enlightening me!
Isn't Lloyd's a Liverpool accent?
Then there are Marcus and Nick Tilsley, who sound southern.
For someone who spent years in Canada should not Nick be more "transatlantic" in the accent dept?
So, with all these differences in accents what was the big deal with Stella's? Why did she have to bother learning a "pure" accent when there are obviously variations elsewhere on the Street? Seems pretty ridiculous when you consider the content of this post. If the actress hadn't have been made so paranoid about it, perhaps she could have done a great job with a variation?
I always thought that Kevin Webster had a bit of a Liverpudlian accent! Shows how much I know, even though I lived in Manchester and near Liverpool for a while!
Where was the younger Tracy from? She had a very thick accent at times and very hard to make out.
Probably around Oldham by the sound of it, a few miles North of Manchester
Is there an actual place on this earth that 'Sophie's' accent comes from...I can never understand a word she is saying....?
Now Sow-feh is a proper Manc. Thats what you sound like if you come from near the city centre.
It sounds like Sow-feh mumbles more than there being an odd accent. Unfortunately, it makes her sound very dull.
Colson Smith (Craig) is from Castleford, near Wakefield, Yorkshire. He moans on his Twitter account about having to travel the M62 to and from Manchester in heavy traffic when shooting Corrie.
Finton Flynn (Russ Gray, son of Lloyd's girlfriend Cheryl) was from a small town near York.
Peter Armitage (Bill Webster) is from a village near Skipton, Yorkshire
Angela Griffin (Fiona Middleton) is from Leeds, and Glenn Hugill (her fiance Alan McKenna) is from Darlington, Co. Durham.
Philip Middlemiss (and his character Des Barnes) hail from Hartlepool, Co. Durham. Tim Healey, who played Sean's Dad, is a Geordie from Newcastle.
The Honourable Susan Frances Harmer-Nicholls (Audrey) was born in Walsall, West Midlands, but was educated at a private school and RADA and no doubt took elocution lessons. I believe she used her native accent on Crossroads in the 1960s.
Craig Charles (Lloyd) is definitely a Liverpudlian. Geoffrey Hughes (Eddie Yates) and Kenneth Cope (Jed Stone) were also Scousers, although Geoff was born across the river in Wallasey.
John Savident (Fred, I say, Fred) is from Guernsey and has a posh accent IRL, but his Lanky accent is authentic (if exaggerated) in that he picked it up in Manchester where he grew up and was a copper for 6 years.
Other Corrie actors born in Leeds include:
Helen Worth (Gail Potter-Tilsley-Tilsley-Platt-Hillman-McIntyre)
Gaynor Faye (Judy Mallett)
John Bowe (Duggie Ferguson)
Kate Antony (Aunty Pam Hobsworth)
and others from the early days of Corrie.
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