Actor Brian Cox voices criticism of ‘feudal’BBC

DUNDEE ACTOR Brian Cox has criticised the “feudal” BBC after being told his accent was too strong for a production made by BBC Scotland.

Corporation bosses got Cox to re-record his lines for crime series Shetland, t elling him his accent would not be understood by the “average audience”.

Cox, who adopted a Shetland accent for the role of Magnus Bain, said the decision was unfair to licence fee payers who have a regional accent.

The 67-year-old actor, speaking at a debate on independence, said: “I thought I’d conquered the accent pretty well, and even learned some old Shetland words.

“But I had to revoice my part because they said my accent was too strong for the average audience to understand.

“That shouldn’t have happened in a BBC Scotland drama,” he said.

“This was not an artistic decision, it was a BBC decision to please a certain audience.

“I was extremely affected by it. It bothered me a lot, because I didn’t think it was fair on those who have that accent or other regional accents who pay their licence fee.

“I pointed out t hat they didn’t dub the Scandinavian crime drama The Bridge , t hey had subtitles, so why couldn’t they subtitle Shetland?”

Cox added: “The BBC is feudal. People come up to Scotland to better their careers here. There’s a BBC mentality based on careerism, where certain things are notbeingdecided until after the referendum because politics permeate everything.”

The murder mystery series, based on the novels by Ann Cleeves, is set and filmed on Shetland.

Made in collaboration with BBC Scotland and produced by ITV Studios, it attracted a combined audience of more than 12 million viewers on BBC One in March.

It is the not the first time Scots actors have accused the BBC of being biased towards London viewers — Still Game star Greg Hemphill, criticised BBC bosses in England after they vetoed alternative c o m e d y B l u e H av e n despite BBC Scotland backing the project.

Hemphill claimed that “every show BBC Scotland make has to have‘network transferability’.”

He also criticised the corporation for refusing to show hit sitcom Still Game across the network.

Brian Cox’s uncle Andrew.