His parents are Scottish, and if I recall correctly, he says in an interview that his brother lives in Scotland, so he has a lot to draw from. Interestingly a lot of fandom winces at the accent, calling it poor. I thought it was pretty accomplished, myself.

I'm just waiting for some clueless fan to start complaining that the actors on Torchwood have weirdly un-English accents....

Ha! I'm sure it's coming.

It took years for my eyes to stop rolling after fans criticized Glenn Quinn's "fake" Irish accent.

Oooh, which one was it?

"A Beautiful Lifetime Event." Usually her stories bring the emotional truth no matter if the plot is realistic or cracktastic, but the characters bore no resemblance to themselves in that one, and the ridiculous convolutions of story made Three's Company episodes look plausible by comparison.

Interestingly a lot of fandom winces at the accent, calling it poor.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, okay, not Scottish myself, but lived there for four years. I think it's pretty bloody convincing.

It took years for my eyes to stop rolling after fans criticized Glenn Quinn's "fake" Irish accent.

Hell. Yes. I mean, I didn't know whence he came the first time I saw him on the screen, but the accent was perfectly convincing. For very good reason, as it turned out.

...I also find my eyes spinning like whirligigs when people express the conviction that James Marsters does a brilliant English accent. Over the course of seven years, James has gone from excruciating to okay. But BtVS Season 2? Holy crap, batman, that was some Dick Van Dyke school of mockney badness right there. Drusilla never DID get any less mockney, but - she's Drusilla. I handwave madly, and forgive her.

(Now Alexis Denisof, otoh - utterly convincing. And I've just been rewatching Season 5. God. Wesley. Wesley Wesley Wesley. Lineage broke me into teeny tiny pieces, and then Hole in the World stamped on them.)

Usually her stories bring the emotional truth no matter if the plot is realistic or cracktastic, but the characters bore no resemblance to themselves in that one, and the ridiculous convolutions of story made Three's Company episodes look plausible by comparison.

hangs head

...Ireallylikedit

Um. In fact, it was the very first SGA story I ever read, and I'm so NOT an MPreg fan, but I was totally sucked in. Even though it was cracktastic. Of course, I'd never seen the show, so I wasn't so much reading it with my fannish lenses on and could make no judgment at all as to the incharacterness of people. Um. You're probably right about that.

I thought it was good, but it could be possible USAian actors have never set a high standard in this area, leaving Yank fans dead easy to impress.

Drusilla never DID get any less mockney, but - she's Drusilla. I handwave madly, and forgive her.

I remember back in the day hearing about a British crewmember asking Juliet if she was from some specific county—the implication being that she picked some odd little regional dialect and reproduced it convincingly, while sounding nothing like a generically familiar Brit. Kind of like the Bianca Lawson thing actually, where apparently there are actually people who talk like Rastafarian leprechuans hidden away in some remote Caribbean community.

I always thought Drusilla sounded like some people I'd seen on some PBS special about the more rural counties of England.

There are dozens of accents in England. Derek Jacobi was in some BBC romance, and he sounded nothing like he usually did, very country.

Kind of like the Bianca Lawson thing actually, where apparently there are actually people who talk like Rastafarian leprechuans hidden away in some remote Caribbean community.

::coughbullshitcough::

I always thought Drusilla sounded like some people I'd seen on some PBS special about the more rural counties of England.

Wait, she wasn't supposed to be from London? I mean, the bit with the mines?

In the time I lived there I never heard, onscreen or off, an accent that sounded much like hers. She just sounded off.

There are dozens of accents in England.

Yep.

I remember back in the day hearing about a British crewmember asking Juliet if she was from some specific county—the implication being that she picked some odd little regional dialect and reproduced it convincingly, while sounding nothing like a generically familiar Brit

boggles

I can't think of any county where the accent resembles Drusilla's, though. Nary a one. And I've lived in quite a few different parts of the UK, and know people from plenty of places where I've not lived. So I'm assuming it's a county just next door to the Rastafarian Leprechauns and round the corner from DickVanDykeshire.

...I know I'm being churlish. There are undoubtedly lots of appallingly cringe-inducing Brit attempts at American accents too.