Yahoo News 'Wild Bill' viewers frustrated by 'generic northern' accents in Lincolnshire-set drama
Lincolnshire viewers sat down with excitement to watch ITV’s new drama Wild Bill last night, but many were frustrated to hear that the accents seemed to have moved the show to Yorkshire.
Rob Lowe plays the lead role in the cop comedy-drama, which follows his Miami police officer as he relocates across the Atlantic to Boston in Lincolnshire with his daughter.
Read more: Lowe says Wild Bill depicts ‘Brexit Britain’
ITV’s synopsis for the six-part series states that Lowe’s character, Bill Hixon, has made the move with his teenage girl to “flee their recent painful past”.
The show received mixed reviews from critics after its first episode aired, with The Independent calling it “dreary” and Den of Geek referring to it as a “confused retro crime comedy”.
It wasn’t the procedural drama quality that enraged fans on social media, though, but the roving accents.
Many viewers, especially native Lincolnshire “yellowbellies”, took issue with the fact the show’s accents seemed to be rooted more in northern neighbour Yorkshire than their home county.
And naturally nobody has a Lincolnshire accent in it, just generic northern / ex-Emmerdale. But all those aside, enjoyed #WildBill
— Jonny Symonds (@JonnySymonds) June 12, 2019
Really enjoying #WildBill so far! But surely someone would have pointed out to the director that not everyone north of Watford has a Yorkshire accent!?! 🤣🤣
— Sarah Marks (@SixpenceSocial) June 12, 2019
Disappointed with #WildBill Rob Lowe is a good actor but IT doesn't change the fact the accents of the other actors are massively wrong! And the diversity of the force realistically is just not accurate. BOSTON DOES NOT HAVE A WEST YORKSHIRE ACCENT
— LoLo (@lorilo98) June 12, 2019
#WildBill Why has everyone in Boston Lincs either got an Barnsley or a West Yorkshire accent? Is that the immigration they keep referring to?
— William L (@WillAtHull) June 12, 2019
With all the little references they’ve shoved in about Boston and Lincolnshire as a whole on #WildBill, you’d think they’d consider getting the accent right. #LincolnshirenotYorkshire #smalldetailsmakeabigdifference
— Michelle (@ickle46) June 12, 2019
Watching #WildBill - so far not a single Lincolnshire accent & not much of the Boston I know. But still - Lincs on the tellybox - blimey!
— Sue Mitchell (@Siouxzmitch) June 12, 2019
Rob Lowe wandering around the fields of Boston looking for an honest-to-god Lincolnshire accent #WildBill
— Alice Thorpe (@AliceAKATintin) June 12, 2019
Not everyone on social media, though, was turned off by the fact Boston appeared to have been moved a little further north.
One account devoted to celebrating everything Yorkshire tweeted that the team behind Wild Bill had simply realised that a Yorkshire accent is “best”.
Tv companies realising that Yorkshire accent is best, even tho shows arn't even set in Yorkshire! 😂#WildBill #GameOfThrones #Chernobyl
— Yorkshire Slang (@YorkshireSlang) June 13, 2019
Lowe’s arrival on British TV is an unconventional move for the actor, who rose to fame in the 1980s as a member of the ‘Brat Pack’ in Hollywood and later received acclaim for his work in US political drama The West Wing.
Read more: Inspector Morse named best British crime drama
The 55-year-old actor himself described the show to Digital Spy as “a totally unnatural fit” for him, and said that’s why he signed on to appear.
Wild Bill is airing on ITV on Wednesday nights at 9pm.
