Lord Sugar under fire after asking why actors have Scouse accents in TV drama based in Liverpool
Lord Alan Sugar has come under fire after asking why characters in a Liverpool-based drama have strong Scouse accents.
The Apprentice star took to Twitter to complain that The Responder, on BBC One, was "hard to follow" because he could not understand the actors.
The series is based on former Merseyside Police officer Tony Schumacher, who spent 10 years in the force and is also the writer of the show.
The drama follows urgent response officer Chris Carson, who is played by the award-winning British actor Martin Freeman.
Freeman speaks in a Scouse accent - as his character is from Liverpool - but Lord Sugar told his millions of Twitter followers he should have stuck with his own, Southern, accent.
He said: "Why did the BBC make Martin Freeman speak with a Liverpool accent in The Responder. Hard to follow what he and other cast are saying.
"No disrespect to people of Liverpool they are nice down to earth people. My wife gave up watching she said she could not understand a word."
He received hundreds of angry responses - mostly from northerners - slamming his comments, including the Mayor of Liverpool Steve Rotheram.
"May I suggest that your problem is that you simply aren't listening properly?", Mr Rotheram replied.
The Merseyside band, the Coral, also piped up. They said: "One of the most unfathomably backward things I’ve ever read on here. Even the basic wording of it. Divvy."
Meanwhile, former Hollyoaks actor Matt Littler, simply replied: "It’s…it’s set in Liverpool. That’s… I’m not sure how to answer."
The tycoon replied: "It might be set in Liverpool. I can understand Steven Gerrard. I can't understand the character. Sorry but true."
According to many Scousers, Martin Freeman's accent is "spot on", with most saying it is the most accurate they have heard on TV.
The 50-year-old star confessed during an interview with the Metro that he had been practicing the Liverpool accent for a year and a half in preparation for the role.
He said: "I walked around for a year and a half, occasionally just talking to myself in Scouse. Even though you’re not always the best judge of your own thing, I do trust my ear."
"There are some accents where you don’t want to be in that city among the inhabitants of that city making a balls up of it,’ the actor said.
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