Every British Accent In "The Haunting Of Bly Manor" Ranked From Perfectly Terrible To Perfectly Splendid

    "Gotta keep things proper borin', 'aven't we?"

    Sam Cleal
    by Sam Cleal

    BuzzFeed Staff

    Last week, Netflix dropped the second season in The Haunting franchise – The Haunting of Bly Manor – and gave us something to finally get excited about this year!

    Netflix / Via tumblr.com

    The new series is an adaptation of several different works by American author Henry James, whose famous novella The Turn of the Screw provides the bulk of the storyline.

    The series is mostly set in Essex, England during the late 1980s, and features a host of familiar faces from the first season, The Haunting of Hill House, as well as several new actors in starring roles.

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    While some of cast are native Brits – like T'Nia Miller, Amelia Eve, and Oliver Jackson-Cohen – many are of American and/or Canadian extraction and the English accents are a little... eclectic, shall we say!

    So I thought it would be fun to rank every English accent from perfectly terrible to perfectly splendid – not including the English cast, of course!

    Netflix / Via tumblr.com

    Also, disclaimer – I am no accent expert, I'm just a critical Brit with opinions.

    🚨 There are some spoilers for the entire season ahead! 🚨

    6. Henry Thomas as Henry Wingrave.

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    For me, this was the most jarring of all the English accents. It wasn't so bad that it took me out of the story, but there were a couple of times where I remarked to the people I was watching with that the accent wasn't great. Henry talks very slowly, and kind of sounds like he's doing it with his lips pursed, which means words like "lot" and "actually" are unfortunately made a meal of, so to speak.

    Rating: It got lost somewhere across The Atlantic.

    5. Carla Gugino as Old Jamie / The Storyteller.

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    Carla does a pretty good job of the Northern English accent, but IMO she falters a little getting her mouth around those vowels. Take the eighth episode of the series, for instance – she begins narrating in what sounds like general RP English, but then slips into an almost cockney dialect on the word "gentlemen". Occasionally, she reminds us she's something of a 'Nelly Dean' sort of character by pronouncing "sun" or "but" in a Northern English way, which is fun! But it is kinda uneven compared to Amelia Eve's accent.

    Rating: She might stand out if she were cast in Emmerdale.

    4. Zoë Noelle Baker as Isabel Willoughby.

    A black and white image of a woman and a young girl standing in front of a front door in old timey clothes
    Netflix / Via Buzzfeed

    I have to say I thought Zoë was English from her performance, but she's actually a dual citizen of Canada and the USA! Though she doesn't have too many lines to get a really good impression of her accent, I personally think she does a pretty spot-on job of nailing the upper-class English register! Lindsay Lohan in The Parent Trap wishes.

    Rating: Perfect casting for The Parent Trap 2!

    3. Katie Parker as Perdita Willoughby.

    A black and white image of a woman smiling slightly at someone off screen
    Netflix / Via Buzzfeed

    This is a pretty good posh English accent, and only a few times does Katie over-stress certain words like "cannot" in a way that sounds un-English to me. I find that sometimes Americans really want to over-pronounce their 'Ts' when they do an English accent – see Madonna during her Music, bakerboy cap phase. But I must say, I've met many an English lady in the wild who sounds just like Perdita!

    Rating: MUCH better than Madonna.

    2. Kate Siegel as Viola Willoughby.

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    Kate's accent is pretty damn good, even though a lot of the time her voice is quite croaky because her character is constantly near death! She copes with the vowels well, and she only slips up once or twice, like when she says the word "lawfully" during her wedding vowels in episode eight. This RP upper-class accent is pretty tricky for Americans to perfect, but Kate does an excellent job IMHO.

    Rating: A regular Bridget Jones of Bly!

    1. Alex Essoe as Charlotte Wingrave.

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    This is very good, I had no idea she wasn't English and I loved her voice! I initially thought Charlotte was being played by Keeley Hawes until I saw Alex on screen. Nothing bad to say. Get this woman a spot on the Calm app!

    Rating: Ready for her Downton Abbey debut!

    Bonus – Oliver Jackson-Cohen as Peter Quint.

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    Interestingly, English actor and The Haunting alumnus, Oliver, takes on a Scottish accent in this series. Initially, I wasn't sure if it was good or not, but by the end of the first episode I thought it was actually very strong. He kind of sounds like Richard Madden who is Scottish so... you know... good show!

    Rating: Pure dead brilliant!

    Bonus bonus – Victoria Pedretti as Dani Clayton.

    Two woman in a greenhouse talking one says in a forced cockney accent gotta keep things proper boring haven't we
    Netflix / Via Buzzfeed

    Obviously I know that Victoria's character Dani hails from the US, but from what little she does of the English accent, I can't help but wonder if that decision was crucial to the story, or a necessary manoeuvre!

    Rating: Dick Van Dyke/10.

    Regardless, this is still an AMAZING series and well worth a watch!!

    Netflix / Via tumblr.com