Sounds as though he was still going through the process of finding his 'acceptable' accent. I think I read somewhere that he felt his true accent would limit him.

He really does have an excellent ear for accents. That public school edge (particularly as subtle as it is here) is incredibly hard to pull off unless you've actually been brought up in that particular school system. Much harder than regional accents (which he also seems to have a mastery over). I wondered whether he was under the influence of some posh totty at the time!

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Which reminds me, I once met a lady with two miniature poodles - one was called Posh and the other was called Totty. It was hilarious hearing her calling them.

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I'd love to know what his "true" accent was. I imagine a very gentle Yorkshire.

If you listen to his voice in his early work - such as Equus - I would think that is close to his original accent. He does have an amazing gift with voices and that comes through in his audio books too. Listen to 'Maurice' by EM Forster and he can be reading six different characters, each with subtle shades of difference (or even different sex) and you know immediately who's talking! I've come to love long car journeys just so I can listen to his voices!

Peter's offduty voice is RP (received pronunciation) not a public school accent. I point this out for the benefit of forum members from overseas who may not know the difference. It's more that just 'speaking posh'. With a public school accent (think Prince Charles, Bryan Ferry, David Cameron), the sound is very nasal and the mouth hardly moves. Hence the phrase 'stiff upper lip'. RP is a well spoken but more rounded sound. The mouth moves a lot more because each word should sound clear and fully pronounced.

I started watching Spooks round about S3 and then went back a couple of years ago and watched S1 and S2. Something that struck me in the very first episode was that Harry definitely had a public school accent. I wondered if that was part of the back story PF was given on Harry and decided to play it that way. Harry doesn't sound so posh now.

Back to the subject of PF's voice (like I need encouragement ), when he started out regional accents were considered a bit limiting, where as now they are all the rage. I would agree with the comment previously made that he changed his voice to increase his chances of work.

Peter still has moments of a Yorkshire twang, even when speaking 'RP'. Especially when he gets angry in Spooks. It's extremely subtle, I only notice it as I'm from Yorkshire myself and stumble with the exact same sounds as he does and secondly because I work in lingusitics and the dreaded phonemic script (British RP sounds) so my ear is quite finely tuned.

I would guess Peter's off duty accent depends on who he is with. The Yorkshire accent is strong and when I'm with family or back here it quickly thickens and when I leave again it softens. Peter makes me smile the way he says bastard, in that very Yorkshire way (which personally I find infinately more expressive than the RP way with a lengthened 'a'.) ie bAstard v Baarrstard.

I like his accent now. I dont think the public school boy suits him and in Equus, he was a little too broad.

I agree totally, Loladom - his accent now sounds quite natural. He may have used his original accent in "Blood & Oil", although you'd be a better judge of whether that's a Bradford accent. I think Yorkshiretyke said it was, back when the programme first aired.

I'm from south Essex, so the accent he used in The Broker's Man, as Alex, really hit home for me. He did sound very authentic. Not Cockney (or 'mockney'), but a south Essex (or "Estuary") accent.

I love that clip. The way he is dressed and the way Peter is speaking just don't go together. He is speaking very well, but wouldn't we all put our best accent on, to be interviewed on camera. Peter does seem very relaxed there though. In later interviews he does to camera, he seems a little more uneasy.

(25-01-2011 07:58 PM)watchstrap Wrote:  Peter's offduty voice is RP (received pronunciation) not a public school accent. I point this out for the benefit of forum members from overseas who may not know the difference.

Agreed, it is now. But don't you think in this early interview it is has that public school twang, which can't have been his natural accent? I'd be interested to know whether people from overseas can tell the difference between this interview and the way he speaks as Harry (or himself) now.

I love the subtlety of his voices. Going back to Awfully Big Adventure, his camp inflection was also extremely subtle. He doesn't smack you over the head with it. And when people from the regions he is doing find his accent convincing that is a fine testimony.

I've been listening to his audio book of Tess in the car recently and have been very impressed by his Tess accent because he gradually makes it less "rural" as the story progresses, as the book suggests is due to Angel's influence. Then when her sister has some lines towards the end, she speaks with Tess's original accent and you can hear the contrast between the two, but it is infinitesmal and very clever.

This is quite a talent. I wonder if PF also has a very musical ear?

Very interesting about RP accent. As a non-Pom I didn't realise PFs accent qualified as RP. But, yes, can hear the difference between that and Public School accent.
Tea Lady ... What clips? On YouTube ... that I haven't found yet?

(26-01-2011 06:10 AM)cateau1 Wrote:  Very interesting about RP accent. As a non-Pom I didn't realise PFs accent qualified as RP. But, yes, can hear the difference between that and Public School accent.
Tea Lady ... What clips? On YouTube ... that I haven't found yet?

This Letter to Brezhnev interview isn't too easy to find if you're just searching for PF clips. Whoever very kindly uploaded this to YouTube is obviously not a devoted PF fan (can that be possible!), they have only tagged it with Liverpool references (e.g Brookside, Margi Clarke and Alexandra Pigg).