History FakeBrit / LiveActionTv

* A ''{{Series/Charmed}}'' episode featuring Lady Godiva had her played by Kristen Warren, doing an IAmVeryBritish accent. The same episode's antagonist - Lord Dyson - was also played by an American doing an English accent.

* A ''{{Series/Charmed}}'' episode featuring Lady Godiva had her played by Kristen Warren, doing an IAmVeryBritish accent.

* ''{{Series/Firefly}}'':
** In the episode "Shindig", River Tam mimics Badger's authentic London accent.
** The episode commentary from Morena Baccarin and Jane Espenson contains some fine FakeBrit moments. Both figures praise Creator/SummerGlau for her ability to do accents very well (unfortunately, most British people would disagree on her supposed London accent). Espenson also goes on to mention her love of British slang words and how she likes to use them in her work. The example used is the word 'palaver' - meaning 'an unnecessary fuss'. She pronounces it erroneously as 'par-layver' (it's 'puh-lah-ver' (or 'puh-lah-va' if you're from the London area).

* ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'': The Originals have British accents despite being Scandinavian. Klaus is played by real Brit Joseph Morgan and Rebekah is played by Australian Claire Holt. The Originals all have different accents. Most notably Klaus has a Welsh accent, Kol has a London accent, Elijah has an American accent and Rebekah has an Australian accent.

** Also an InvertedTrope for the series other than that moment, as Dr. House [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome normally speaks in a strong, accurate American accent.]]

** AvertedTrope as far as the actors are concerned. Gina Bellman (Sophie) was born in New Zealand to English parents and moved back to the UK when she was eleven, so her accent is genuine, as is Creator/MarkSheppard's. However, the characters sometimes have to put on fake accents for a con, with Sophie making hers more downtown London than Upper-Class British Thief for "The Beantown Bailout Job", and Hardison taking on a Londoner accent in "The Ice Man Job".

* ''Series/{{Highlander}}'': Duncan [=MacLeod=]. Adrian Paul used a Scottish accent in the flashbacks of Duncan's early years, but made it more generalized in the more recent flashbacks.

* ''Series/TheNanny'': Niles. A story goes that viewers of this show in the UK wrote in to complain about the "fake" accent used by Charles Shaughnessy (a real Londoner) and praising the "real" accent of Daniel Davis (Niles), a native of Arkansas.

* ''Series/MagnumPI'': John Hillerman, a native Texan, played English ex-military vet Jonathan Higgins. During the show's run, his character was required to "fake" a Texas accent to impersonate his look-alike half-brother Elmo. (Like Niles in ''Series/TheNanny'' and Wesley Wyndham-Price above, a lot of British viewers were convinced he was a real Brit. One viewer even commended him for "being a credit to the [[BritishEmpire Empire]]".)

* ''Series/MagnumPI'': John Hillerman, a native Texan, played English ex-military vet Jonathan Higgins. During the show's run, his character was required to "fake" a Texas accent to impersonate his look-alike half-brother Elmo. (Like Niles in ''Series/TheNanny'' and Wesley Wyndham-Price above, a lot of British viewers were convinced he was a real Brit.)

* ''Series/{{Frontier}}'': Englishwoman Elizabeth Carruthers is played by the Irish Creator/KatieMcGrath.

** Dinklage isn't the only non-Brit who adopts an English accent to fit in: there's also Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Danish), Aiden Gillen (Irish), and Jack Gleeson (also Irish) as the very English-sounding characters Jaime, Baelish, and Joffrey, respectively.

* The sitcom ''Series/USAHigh'' featured the British Ashley Elliot and her father the headmaster as main characters. Both are played by Americans Kirsten Warren and Nicholas Guest respectively. Another episode featured an English teacher and his wife, both played by Americans too.

* ''Series/PennyDreadful'': American Reeve Carney's British accent as Dorian Gray can be quite shaky at times.

** The two spin-off movies - ''Film/SabrinaGoesToRome'' and ''Film/SabrinaDownUnder'' have the Canadian Creator/TaraStrong playing an English witch called Gwen. Her accent is very solid in the first movie but slips quite a bit in the second.

* The short-lived ''Series/USAHigh'' features two English characters in the main cast - Ashley Elliott and her father the headmaster. Both are played by American actors - Kristen Warren and Nicholas Guest respectively. This applies to the British one-episode characters too.

** AvertedTrope as far as the actors are concerned. Gina Bellman (Sophie) was born in New Zealand to English parents and moved back to the UK when she was eleven, so her accent is genuine, as is MarkSheppard's. However, the characters sometimes have to put on fake accents for a con, with Sophie making hers more downtown London than Upper-Class British Thief for "The Beantown Bailout Job", and Hardison taking on a Londoner accent in "The Ice Man Job".

* Amongst the real Brits, Colin Morgan of ''{{Series/Merlin 2008}}'' is Northern Irish and his real accent shows it. He used a British one for the series.

** In the spin-off Alice is played by Sophie Lowe who is British born but grew up in Australia.

** The two spin-off movies - ''Film/SabrinaGoesToRome'' and ''Film/SabrinaDownUnder'' have the Canadian Creator/TaraStrong playing an English witch called Gwen.

* The short-lived ''USA High'' features two English characters in the main cast - Ashley Elliott and her father the headmaster. Both are played by American actors - Kristen Warren and Nicholas Guest respectively. This applies to the British one-episode characters too.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': Alan Dale, who is from New Zealand, plays British character Charles Widmore. In his first few appearances the accent was impeccable, but his accent [[OohMeAccentsSlipping slipped a little]] in "There's No Place Like Home." He also played King Arthur for a time in the West End production of ''{{Spamalot}}''.

* Amongst the real Brits, Colin Morgan of ''{{Series/Merlin}}'' is Northern Irish and his real accent shows it. He used a British one for the series.

* ''TheInspectorLynleyMysteries'': DS Barbara Havers is working-class English. She is played by the ''very'' Scottish Creator/SharonSmall. Fans who first encounter Small as Havers are often stunned when they hear just how wildly her native Glaswegian accent differs from Havers' Estuary English.

* ''{{Friends}}'':

** Also spoofed in an episode where an annoying old friend of Monica and Phoebe's comes back into town after living in England with a fake accent:
-->'''Amanda:''' ''(after an awkward comment)'' Oh! Bugger. Should I not have said that? I feel like a perfect arrrse!
-->'''Phoebe:''' Yeah, well, in America you're just an ''ass.''
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Although his character isn't technically British, Creator/PeterDinklage adopts a cod-English accent to fit in with the almost exclusively British cast of this show.

** Spike, Drusilla, and Wesley. Spike's accent is said to be based on Anthony Stewart Head's regular voice, which is a lot less posh than Head's character Giles. Yet Spike is shown in flashback to originally have an upper class English accent, so whatever he's trying now is an affectation.
** Like Dominic West below, at one point, Spike puts on a American accent, which is hilariously bad.
** Alexis Denisof (Wesley), a Maryland native who lived in the UK for much of his early career, is the Buffyverse's most convincing fake Brit; even British fans don't always realise he's not English as long as he doesn't use the typical trip words such as 'data' where it becomes painfully obvious even to Britons who were previously fooled. Drusilla, on the other hand, spends a lot of time talking about "Spoik". In fact, Juliet Landau sounds like she's doing a particularly bad impersonation of [[SteptoeAndSon Harry H. Corbett]].
** Also, ''both'' of the "English" potential slayers, one with a bad Cockney similar to Drusilla, and another with a bad RP accent. God knows how genuine Brit Anthony Stewart Head could put up with filming with them.
*** He answered that very question in an interview: "Money soothes all ills."
** Everyone from Spike's past in [[WholeEpisodeFlashback "Fool for Love"]]. It might be easier to list the characters in Buffy who ''were'' played by actual Brits.