By Helen Langdon
All the best bad guys are British. It’s such an established fact, it’s now the basis of a car advert. In American media, both film and TV, when they need a villain who’s still charismatic and morally ambiguous, they tend to head across the pond. It might just be a national fascination with Received Pronunciation. Or maybe it’s because Brits were once the colonial powers, leaving a lingering mistrust of posh British people in the collective consciousness.
All the best bad guys are British. It’s such an established fact, it’s now the basis of a car advert. In American media, both film and TV, when they need a villain who’s still charismatic and morally ambiguous, they tend to head across the pond. It might just be a national fascination with Received Pronunciation. Or maybe it’s because Brits were once the colonial powers, leaving a lingering mistrust of posh British people in the collective consciousness.
Game of Thrones
And it is generally that quite posh, RP accent that American TV turns to. Consider the difference between the Lannister and Stark families. At the start of the series, it felt like the two families were set up to contrast each other. Both old families, still powerful in Westeros. Compare Catelyn Stark, faithful wife, to Cersei, shagging her brother on the side. The Starks are essentially the idiotic good guys of Westeros (so much bloodshed could be averted by the Starks making rational decisions), and the Lannisters keep on surreptitiously killing people to gain power. Now consider their accents – Sean Bean is never going to attempt any accent other than Sheffieldian, and Ned Stark’s elder sons aim for the same accent.
And it is generally that quite posh, RP accent that American TV turns to. Consider the difference between the Lannister and Stark families. At the start of the series, it felt like the two families were set up to contrast each other. Both old families, still powerful in Westeros. Compare Catelyn Stark, faithful wife, to Cersei, shagging her brother on the side. The Starks are essentially the idiotic good guys of Westeros (so much bloodshed could be averted by the Starks making rational decisions), and the Lannisters keep on surreptitiously killing people to gain power. Now consider their accents – Sean Bean is never going to attempt any accent other than Sheffieldian, and Ned Stark’s elder sons aim for the same accent.
Meanwhile the Lannisters, whose actors hail from Ireland, the USA and Denmark, are all trying for RP, to varying degrees of success. And one of those Lannisters is the most hated character in all of Game of Thrones. If Joffrey has any redeeming qualities, they’re pretty hard to find. In a series full of incest, rape, mutilation, torture and murder, Joffrey manages to be one of the biggest bastards. But even before he starts torturing and killing people for fun, his accent acts like a little red flag to the audience.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffy gets a lot of (rightly deserved) praise for the ways in which it subverted horror movie tropes, putting the power to retaliate in the hands of an ordinary schoolgirl. But it still goes back to the same old British villains. Not all the time, obviously. And not all British people are evil – Giles, in the early seasons, is the epitome of the repressed Englishman, and he’s a good guy. But first off, let’s look at Spike and Dru. They’re two of Buffy’s most interesting villains, Spike’s journey from villain to reluctant hero as compelling a character arc as Buffy’s own.
Buffy gets a lot of (rightly deserved) praise for the ways in which it subverted horror movie tropes, putting the power to retaliate in the hands of an ordinary schoolgirl. But it still goes back to the same old British villains. Not all the time, obviously. And not all British people are evil – Giles, in the early seasons, is the epitome of the repressed Englishman, and he’s a good guy. But first off, let’s look at Spike and Dru. They’re two of Buffy’s most interesting villains, Spike’s journey from villain to reluctant hero as compelling a character arc as Buffy’s own.
Like Game of Thrones, Buffy’s Juliet Landau and James Marsters were taking their natural accents and attempting to throw them across the Atlantic. There is no reason for Spike and Dru to be English, or for them to have kept their accents over the centuries (after all, in the show, both English Darla and Irish Angel end up assuming American accents to better fit in). From a production point of view, it was to emphasise the Sid and Nancy vibe the couple gave off. They’re different from Buffy’s main big bads, because they’re not out to rule the world (except for that one time Angelus tried using them to destroy it).
Also, while we’re talking about ambiguously bad characters in Buffy, the Watcher’s Council has to get a mention. Ostensibly an organisation for good, out to train and look after the teenage Slayers, the UK-located Council becomes an egotistical and arrogant force. Rather than serving the Slayers, they view the Slayers as their tools, going so far as to endanger their lives in order to make sure that the Slayers are good enough. Individually, they might be decent guys, but institutionally, the British bunch are a load of tossers, right up until the organisation is destroyed.
Also, while we’re talking about ambiguously bad characters in Buffy, the Watcher’s Council has to get a mention. Ostensibly an organisation for good, out to train and look after the teenage Slayers, the UK-located Council becomes an egotistical and arrogant force. Rather than serving the Slayers, they view the Slayers as their tools, going so far as to endanger their lives in order to make sure that the Slayers are good enough. Individually, they might be decent guys, but institutionally, the British bunch are a load of tossers, right up until the organisation is destroyed.
Battlestar Galactica
When you’re creating a large fantasy or science fiction world, viewers will clamour for an interior logic. If your story involves people from different areas, there has to be a consistency in accents. But to save on exposition, why not give your main (arguably) bad guy a British accent? Gaius Baltar stands out amongst Battlestar Galactica’s main cast for his accent. it’s not like this can just be explained by the actor’s nationality – James Callis might be from London, but so is Jamie Bamber, and he had to attempt an American accent for four years. In universe, it’s explained by Gaius’ natural accent being some kind of generic, farmer folk accent, with him affecting a ‘Caprican’ accent to distance himself from his roots. Never mind the fact that almost everyone else from Caprica speaks with an American accent.
But is Gaius the villain of the piece? Yes. Kind of. Yet again, though, this comes with a disclaimer of “ambiguously so.” His actions seem to come from a place of being misguided, as opposed to out and out evil. Seeing himself as the God-anointed saviour of the Cylon race, he constantly betrays humanity, abandoning several people to their deaths. He does do a bit of saving of the fleet, but that’s always down to his own self-interest. For Gaius, it’s all about making sure he survives, rather than compassion.
This article has only begun to scratch the surface, failing to mention the phenomenon of American villains played by British actors (Homeland’s Nicholas Brody isn’t exactly a villain, but neither is he a good guy – morally tormented!), or animated characters like Mitch in Phineas and Ferb (he might be an alien, but because he’s a competent bad guy, he’s British as opposed to Meep’s all-American hero). From Supernatural’s Crowley to Chuck’s Alexei Volkoff (bad guy who turns out not to be bad, again), British villains on American TV screens aren’t going away.
When you’re creating a large fantasy or science fiction world, viewers will clamour for an interior logic. If your story involves people from different areas, there has to be a consistency in accents. But to save on exposition, why not give your main (arguably) bad guy a British accent? Gaius Baltar stands out amongst Battlestar Galactica’s main cast for his accent. it’s not like this can just be explained by the actor’s nationality – James Callis might be from London, but so is Jamie Bamber, and he had to attempt an American accent for four years. In universe, it’s explained by Gaius’ natural accent being some kind of generic, farmer folk accent, with him affecting a ‘Caprican’ accent to distance himself from his roots. Never mind the fact that almost everyone else from Caprica speaks with an American accent.
But is Gaius the villain of the piece? Yes. Kind of. Yet again, though, this comes with a disclaimer of “ambiguously so.” His actions seem to come from a place of being misguided, as opposed to out and out evil. Seeing himself as the God-anointed saviour of the Cylon race, he constantly betrays humanity, abandoning several people to their deaths. He does do a bit of saving of the fleet, but that’s always down to his own self-interest. For Gaius, it’s all about making sure he survives, rather than compassion.
This article has only begun to scratch the surface, failing to mention the phenomenon of American villains played by British actors (Homeland’s Nicholas Brody isn’t exactly a villain, but neither is he a good guy – morally tormented!), or animated characters like Mitch in Phineas and Ferb (he might be an alien, but because he’s a competent bad guy, he’s British as opposed to Meep’s all-American hero). From Supernatural’s Crowley to Chuck’s Alexei Volkoff (bad guy who turns out not to be bad, again), British villains on American TV screens aren’t going away.
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