Sherwood series 2 met with Nottingham accent backlash
"Subtitles on but still not a clue what is going on."
What did you miss?
BBC One's critically lauded crime drama Sherwood returned for its second series on Sunday.
Once again putting socio-political grievances front and centre in a Nottinghamshire mining village, it sees David Morrissey and Leslie Manville reprise their roles as DCS Ian St Clair and Julie Jackson, yet casting newcomers David Harewood (as Dennis Bottomley), Monica Dolan (Ann Branson) and Robert Lindsay (Franklin Warner) have indirectly rubbed people up the wrong way with their accent work.
Social media was awash with criticism throughout the premiere episode, as TV watchers claimed they were having difficulty in understanding chunks of the dialogue.
What, how and why?
"Subtitles on but still not a clue what is going on. Ladling on the accents too much. Switching off," wrote one viewer who'd clearly had enough of listening to attempts at the regional accent.
Another individual claimed much of the dialect was "over the top" and that Nottingham natives "don't talk like that" in reality, while a third X user admitted: "Having difficulty with some of these Notts accents."
"Oh dear, the Nottingham accent is being done to death" and "Writers.. Just because you set a drama in Nottingham, doesn't mean 'me'duck' has to be dropped into the script every 10 seconds!!! That's not what it's like in real life," read a further two reactions.
It should be noted that not a single member of the main Sherwood cast originates from Nottingham.
What has the Sherwood cast said about the accent?
Ahead of series 2 debuting this weekend, actress Dolan told the BBC website: "It's funny because the accent can be so in the middle.
"There are some sounds that sound London, there are some that sound Birmingham, there's some that sort of sound Yorkshire, but it's very easy to think to yourself 'Okay, I've got this now', and then you've made the wrong sound."
Sherwood season 2 airs Sunday nights on BBC One.
