Accents on TV

Do other news/radio presenters in the UK also speak with their own accents? Say, can someone reading the news on BBC speak with a Liverpool accent? Or has Scottish accent a special status? How about the (northern) Irish? Any others?

Scottish and Welsh accents definitely have a special status that accents from other regions don't enjoy (especially at the national level). There are a number of newsreaders/broadcasters with Scottish accents - fewer with obvious Welsh accents - but few if none with Scouse/Brummie/Geordie/Mancunian etc. accents broadcasting at the national level (for light entertainment, yes - but not for 'serious' news programmes).

There's a drive at the BBC to increase (further) the use of regional accents. See here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1575790/BBC-chief-calls-for-more-regional-accents.html

This may be a stupid question but at least on our national television all the presenters speak some kind of accent-neutral language.

If this isn't a troll it ought to be.

There are a large percentage of Northern Irish news presenters on the BBC, ITV and Sky.

Although most tone down the accent to be more "generic"

e.g Eamon Holmes and Maxine Mawhinney on Sky, Mark Simpson and Lance Armstorng on BBC, Nicolas Witchell etc

I think there should be more regional accents, especially on 'serious' programmes.

I remember living in Newcastle upon Tyne and when the local weather was on, the map was marked with "us" at Geordieland..................brilliant :-)

BBC Radio 4 has a wonderful West Indian continuity announcer whose voice is so rich he sounds like he must be an opera singer in his spare time. There were quite a lot of complaints when he started, but fortunately the BBC quite correctly ignored them.

John Cole was the BBC's political editor from 1981-92, and he has a very strong Belfast accent. Private Eye, a satirical magazine, used to have a regular column of unintelligible "reports" satirising him: they all started "Hondootedly Mossus Thatcher...."

Terry Christian is a Mancunian TV presenter, who came to prominence with Channel 4's "The Word" in 1990. He was jokingly referred to as "a professional northener" at the time. But this career progression resulted in him consorting with lots of southerners, and his accent weakened.

I really can't think of a TV/radio presenter with a Brummie accent. Even when I lived in Birmingham, the local newsreaders on the TV didn't seem to have one.

I really can't think of a TV/radio presenter with a Brummie accent.

Adrian Chiles and Cat Deeley? Not particularly strong but still detectable. And of course, there are always the comedians (e.g. Jasper Carrott).

What accent does BBC's Alan Johnston have?

Adrian Chiles sounds very Midlands to me.

Neil Oliver is an archaeologist and historian who researches, writes and devises (with a team of course) the programmes as well as presenting them. He's not just a front man.

Most people here have more of a problem with his hair than his accent.

Most people here have more of a problem with his hair than his accent.

Funny - I personally found the orange hair of one of the women (Alice?) far more disturbing.