Manchester. . . .isn't that in Alabama? Are you saying that LoM isn't in the Deep South?

An interview with Ronald Moore.

I didn't know they were that different! All of England is London to me!

Oh, dear.

After enough British TV, I find Northern accents very distinguishable from what I identify as London accents. It helps that shows seem to take place in either London or Manchester.

I knew it was Manchester in 1973, but I wasn't entirely certain that Sam was in Manchester in 2006, due to my "all of England is London" view. Also, I may have thought Manchester was just a part of London, like Manhattan is just a part of New York.

So what makes Manchester a unique setting for the show? What is so pivotal about it?

(Is that "Oi! Oi! Oi!" a Northern thing?)

Dean Winchester Clothing Index

the girl is seriously nuts, y'all. and i looooooooooooove it!!

I didn't know they were that different! All of England is London to me!

Dude. That's like saying Boston? L.A.? Same difference.

So what makes Manchester a unique setting for the show? What is so pivotal about it?

The accents, the attitude. The largest English cities after London tend to define themselves very strongly as emphatically not being London, which reinforces the sense of identity.

In the 1970s Manchester (and the rest of Britain - except parts of London) would have been extremely parochial, witness the attitudes towards drugs and racism. OTOH, many nothern towns had proportionally larger Asian populations than anywhere else at the time.

Those narrow streets with the back yards facing each other? Very northern (see also: Billy Elliot).

Manchester youth's glory days - "Madchester" - were a lot later, mid- to late '80s onwards, when several bands from there defined the British music scene for a while (Joy Division, New Order, The Happy Mondays, etc.). If you're interested, the movie "24 Hour Party People" is a good place to start, coincidentally starring John Simm as Bernard Sumner. Also, Oasis are from Manchester.

Wikipedia entry:

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Perhaps the setting apart from London is extremely subtle to an outsider, but it's definitely there.

Interestingly, from what I've read the LoM spin-off is supposed to be set in London, so perhaps there might be a difference noticeable then .

I loved the city layout in LoM. I don't think I ever visited it when I liked in the UK, but it has a very different visual stamps from the cities with which I was more familiar.

City as character indeed.

Gosh yes, I mean from the very first episode when Sam gets thrown back in time and the bypass he was under is only a project. I think it's pretty specific.

I knew it was Manchester in 1973, but I wasn't entirely certain that Sam was in Manchester in 2006, due to my "all of England is London" view. Also, I may have thought Manchester was just a part of London, like Manhattan is just a part of New York.

So what makes Manchester a unique setting for the show? What is so pivotal about it?

Oh, man. So much. The attitude is entirely different, the city culture is different. The way the city is made, the way it grew up. I'm not even sure I can begin to delineate the differences between Manchester and London--there are so many.

But the important thing to realise about Manchester is that it is, by and large, a very working class city. It pervades every part of life there, from the way the city is laid out to what people do and to the kind of people stay here.

The buildings are different, made of different materials, and with only a handful of tall buildings compared to London; but it's probably the most city-like city in the North. It's got a vibrant central part of town, which immediately spreads out into a ton of small neighborhood areas that, like many cities, come to define the people who live in them.

I don't know. I'm not sure if I'm quantifying this well. But the differences in tone, texture, culture, layout, people, everything about the city is so different from London that I am astonished that other people don't see it. but I am definitely skewed in my perspective, having lived in both places as an ex-pat.

I learned my London geography from playing The Getaway.

But the important thing to realise about Manchester is that it is, by and large, a very working class city.

It's kind of like the difference between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, I think.