What is Wheatley's accent supposed to be?

[Ika the Inkling]

Just to clarify: I'm talking about his current VA, Stephen Merchant. I know the original voice is a cockney accent, but I looked at the wiki and went onto other pages and I keep seeing "west country". I don't really seem to understand. Is THAT supposed to be the cockney accent? Is "west country" the name of the dialect, or is it supposed to be something else? I don't know anymore. If someone could help me out, I'd be greatly appreciated.

[Big Floppa]

bri'ish

[rdbury]

First, Britain has dozens of different accents, and you'd need to be an expert to identify all of them even if you're a native. I'm pretty sure Merchant isn't "doing" an accent in the game; that's the way he normally talks. Assuming this is true, you just have to look up where Merchant was raised and you get Bristol, and it turns out there is a "Bristol" accent. Bristol is in the west of England, but not far enough west to be called West Country.

The West Country accent is comparatively well known and many actors can "do" a version which is instantly recognized in Britain. It's used to identify a character as coming from a rural area, being unsophisticated, etc. If you know it from anywhere then you know it as Hagrid's accent in the Harry Potter movies. (The books too but it doesn't really come across in print.) It's not the accent Robbie Coltrane, the actor who plays Hagrid, has in real life; like I said, many British actors can "do" a West Country accent. The character of Sam in the Lord of the Rings trilogy also has a West Country accent, but Sean Astin, who played Sam, is from California. There are many more examples in the movie "Hot Fuzz" (which I recommend if you haven't seen it). Again, many of the actors in the movie aren't from the West Country, they're just imitating the accent. The West County accent is also the basis for the so-called "pirate accent", but that's mainly due to the performances of actor Robert Newton, since he played many pirates in the 1950's. So, unless you think Wheatley sounds like Hagrid, or Sam Gamgee, or a pirate, we can rule out "West Country".

The Cockney accent is another accent that is well-known in Britain. but my understanding it's used more by actors than by real people now. Examples are Eliza Doolittle in "My Fair Lady" and "Pygmalion". Also, ♥♥♥♥ Van ♥♥♥♥ did a notoriously bad Cockney accent in "Mary Poppins". More examples can be found in the "To Sir With Love", though I think even in the 1960's when that was made, the Cockney accent was already being displaced. If that was the original accent for Wheatley then I'm extremely glad they changed it. Mary Poppins' Bert as Wheatley seems wrong, very very wrong.

In any case I'd suggest YouTube for finding information on specific British accents that aren't cliches like West Country and Cockney. I found https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzYo9LB79JQ (THE BRISTOL ACCENT: Who Speaks it and how it's Spoken). They even mention Stephen Merchant.

PS. I just noticed that Steam censored one the actor's names above. They guy had a TV show named after him in the 1960's, a very prudish time for American television. Yet somehow his name can't be used on the internet these days. We live in interesting times.

[Dmytri]

Ironically we appear to still be in very prudish times as the censored actor's first and last names are considered dirty words and were thus, automatically, deleted. So, let's just call him Richard Van Dike. I think Wheatly's accent would probably just be considered "working class" as opposed to regional. Cockney is a "working class" accent, but definitely not what Wheatly's using. I think Cornwall is more generally considered "West Country."

[rdbury]

Originally posted by Dmytri:

... I think Wheatly's accent would probably just be considered "working class" as opposed to regional. Cockney is a "working class" accent, but definitely not what Wheatly's using. I think Cornwall is more generally considered "West Country."

Right, "Doc Martin" is set in Cornwall and you can hear plenty of West Country accents in it. It all gets more complicated the deeper you dive into it; the actual Cornwall accent isn't quite the same as the actual Devon accent if you know what to listen for. I think there are no many regional accents in England that people tend to lump them together. So unless you talk like a BBC announcer you're considered to have a "working class" accent.

I think the take-away in terms of the game is that Wheatley's accent isn't "supposed to be" anything other than the way the actor normally talks. Ellen McLain and J. K. Simmons speak with an American accent, but I'm pretty sure that's just the way they normally talk as well. I don't know if there's an in-game explanation for why a robot built in the US would have a somewhat obscure regional British accent; it's probably better not to think about it too much. There are other robot voices in the game too, one at the very start, the auto-turrets, and the dampening spheres at the end, but those all seem to be American. Perhaps the devs just thought Stephen Merchant, accent and all, was a good fit for the role.

[giuseppedegregorio2510]

he sounds a lot like he wants tea and he also sounds like he wants to colonize ireland and steal their potatoes to show he is not a moron.