Hello Kweekes
. If you can find a clip of Matthew Fox on The Graham Norton Show, alongside German titwillow Diane Kruger - she ribbed fellow guest & Liverpudlian comic John Bishop for not being able to understand him - and John just said "That's from a German with an American accent - that's really put me in my place!" . As John also said, the range of accents in such a small country are more diverse than in America - purely because it means we can all hate each other more. As for a generic Hollywood accent, I could swear that you have said before that Brits in US ahows, playing Americans , have this same generic terrible accent ? BTW i used to love Boomhauer in King Of The Hill - ha ha , wtf did he just say ? So funny
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And also, The King was the master of the unintelligable. Check out Irish muppets' Zig & Zag rendition of the Beastie Boy's "Sabotage" , in the style of the man himself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVq7w2j-6iw&playnext=1&list=PLC 59C60C932A26036
"Come back with my Oreos you hairy-ass"

So the fact that the OP came out and said he/she is CANADIAN went by all of you huh?
Looks like it's not just us Yanks who have a problem with the Brits and their accents. But hey, just keep trashing the Yanks for being insular right?
My main problem with British accents is that mumbling/slurring tend to be standard characteristics for alot of them. In the US, American actors often adopt what I call the "generic Hollywood" American accent. No one in the US actually speaks like this, but it's easily understood (American actors tend to enunciate much more than British actors) and sells worldwide. It's why the rest of this planet thinks all Americans sound the same until they actually get here.
Go ahead. Blame me for everything George Bush did. You'll feel better.

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I don't know if you know this, but this is a BRITISH show. Made in the UK for UK viewers. Why in the world would they "soften" their accents for us?
What you are asking for doesn't even make sense. If you don't watch enough British TV to understand the slang (and that's much tougher than the accents,btw) then maybe you should just stick to good old fashioned American TV that you will be able to grasp.

Lol you can't understand them? Their accents are some of the "lightest" Brit accents i've ever heard. Imo if most of them had lighter accents they'd sound like a lot of us and by us I mean those in the U.S.
-What's more dangerous than sincere ignorance?-

If you have trouble with this show you should try Glasgow based cop series Taggart. You might have to grab a Canadian to help you.
I usually find foreign vernacular is easy enough to understand if you stick with it and have a rewind button. I even starting getting the hang of West Baltimore by season 3 of the Wire and thats an achievement.

I am from Turkey and %95 of the time i have no problem understanding L&O uk. Not only i love English accent, understanding American "accent" is harder. Although i have to admit watching "Life on Mars" was a real challange.
I got a chuckle out of using "The Wire" as an example; Even us Americans can't understand half of it, which is a big reason why hardly anyone watched it. It is still a great show, but in order to understand the Baltimore street dialect, first you need to use the closed captioning. Then, you have to take notes and refer to the Urban Dictionary website. And even then, you have no idea what Snoop just said.
I was planning to watch it but i guess i shouldnt even try. If you dont understand that means i have no chance

It's in your nature to destroy yourselves. (Terminator 2: Judgment Day)

I don't understand how people don't understand what they are saying! I am American and I have never had a problem understanding this show or any other show I have seen on the BBC
Bonnie didn't set Damon on fire. Damon's so hot, he just burst into flames coincidentally.

The actors are English and that is how they talk. If you can't understand people when they are talking in a British accent you probably shouldn't watch BBCA.
In brightest day, In blackest night, No evil shall escape my sight

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I'm American I think their accents are easy to understand. I have more trouble understanding someone with a thick southern "twang".
I don't get why Americans complain about British,Irish and Scottish accents. As my Grandad told my Granmom when she complained about them. "They were speaking English before we were a country."
I hear they eat you when you die.

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Come on, that is a bit harsh no
As the OP I should have clarified that I am Canadian not American. Maybe that would have attracted less anger my way.
And, I love this show and I love the accents. I simply wondered why they didnt soften them a bit to have a broader appeal.
Man this party is like an orgy at a campsiteits ***king in tents.

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Please don't take offense but that is silly-WHY would they do that, it wouldn't be original if they did and we don't change things for them. Learn more about the English culture if you really want to 'get it'. Just sayin.

That was just a tad harsh. I've travelled extensively within my own country (44 of the 50 states), throughout the UK, Ireland and Australia. All regions of all countries have their own accents. Some accents are easier to understand than others. Deep South, New Orleans, and some areas of NYC accents take me a while to adjust my "hearing". The only times I've had a really tough time was in the North of England and in the West of Ireland. It was absolutely hilarious. Had a fine and handsome Irishman explain to me that the easiest way to tell where a person was from was to listen to their pronunciation of the "f" word. And yes, when I first started watching "Law and Order UK" I had to switch on the subtitles.

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I agree. I'm swiss and a couple of years ago I begun to watch TV shows in english, a language that I didn't knew (my mother language is italian and I speak german and french). At first I had to watch them with english subtitles, and look up a lot of words in both regular and urban dictionaries. When I became accustomed with most american accents (even those in True Blood), I had a few problems with british and australian shows, not to mention canadians (I couldn't find subs for "The Border", and I had to stop watching it). Now I'm happy to say that I understand a lot of different accents, and honestly, I can't watch doubled stuff anymore. In regard to british shows, I find women's accents very sexy

im from the usa and i can understand what they say just fine.
http://www.dailymotion.com/CelebrityGamers
Sub the Celebrity

My Irish friends talk at warp speed, as well.
But then. So does my friend from Tennessee. haha

Londoners talking fast is never something I considered until some foreigners pointed it out. I can see it once they mentioned it.

Why do folks talk about this? It's a British show. They have natural accents (well Jamie Bamber tried a rather forced East Endbut).
As an American who lives alot of the time in London, even i use the subtitles if only because sometimes they speak fastit's not the accents. But then 'im indoors is from Dartford. So.home field advantage there, ha.
Imagine how the accent-challenged in the US would complain if suddenly Ronnie said:
"Oi. China. Stone the crows!! This barney's doin' me 'ed in. Sling 'ur 'ook cuz if I get another butchers at you 'round 'ere, and 'ave a word in me shell like of yer cobblers again mate, I'm sending the boyos round to your gaff to give you a right kick up yer farmers. Then bob's your mother's brother. Innint??"
So for those who think they have not already sanitized the dialog for international consumption in "the colonies" and other foreign lands, they have!

From the good ole USA and my main thing is some of the slang. For example, the use and placement of the term "snap" threw me when I first heard it. The accents sound fairly innocuous to me.
In general I find no cause for complaint since this is L&O:UK. It is for a British audience. The best way to get what they are saying is to keep watching; your ear will properly train to the sound of the accent and various dialects.

You Americans r a bunch of bloody idiots if u need subtitles for a british show, none of the accents on law and order uk are particularly strong except for the guy playing the older cop. The older prosecutors accent is just Scottish lol, u need to learn how other people speak instead of insisting everyone speak like u do, yes I know greatest country in world and everyone else has to toe the line and act/speak/do exactly as you do.