British accents - early episodes

[VA_Avenger]

I usually don't have trouble with accents in the English language. I work with Koreans, Filipinos, Chinese, and many others with English as a second language, and have no difficulty understanding. However, the early episodes with Steed and Cathy are driving me crazy. I only catch about 70% of what they say on the first time through.

I did not have that problem with the later episodes with Emma and Tara, or in the New Avengers. I also have no problem with current BBC commentary as shown here.

I suspect that part of the problem may be the inferior sound quality of the older recordings. Also, my hearing is not as good as it used to be. I have difficulty clearly understanding speech when there is significant background noise or music.

Can someone from the UK explain what type of accent they're using in these early episodes? Is it Received Pronunciation?

Are any other U.S. fans having the same problem?

[Frankymole]

Can someone from the UK explain what type of accent they're using in these early episodes? Is it Received Pronunciation?

Yes, indeed it is.

They tended to speak faster in the videotaped shows too. I think the pace of dialogue was slowed down for overseas sales. The microphones and sound recording would not have been as good either in a rushed "as live" environment.

[DiVicenzo]

Yes - definitely RP. Funnily enough I am hoping to go on a class to brush up on my RP at the end of the month

[Big Sid]

If you caught 70% your first time through you did a lot better than me! The first Cathy episode I watched, I could barely make out half of what was said. To me, the problem seems to be that the actors are too far away from the microphones, which makes it seem like they are mumbling. They also talk very fast. Then there are a couple of episodes, at least on the A&E discs, where the sound is just terrible. I've never figured out all the dialogue in Conspiracy of Silence or The Golden Fleece.

[Allard]

I feel your pain. Sometimes I had the same problem with the early episodes. Although I much more prefer English subtitles, the Dutch subtitled DVD's I know have do help me with this problem.

[Philippa]

I've watched all episodes until now without subtitles, and I have to say I'm alright with most of them. But what you need is a quiet house, so you're not disturbed while watching them. You really have to concentrate and focus on what the actors are saying.
What helped me a lot is watching them on my laptop, with my earphones in. That way the sounds is directly in your ears and you tend to miss less of what's being said.

[Dandy Forsdyke]

There is more variety of British accents in the videotaped era - northern, midlands, etc. By the time we get to the film episodes almost everyone talks rather posh.

[darren]

The film episode would be post dubbed as well at times. This was usually done for overseas sale, you'd get the sound effects, music and voices seperately so that they could do different language versions. It's sometimes very apparent. I first noticed it on Man-eater of Surrey Green, the actor playing Alan Carter is dubbed by the man who appears in The Joker, John Stone. he has such a distinctive voice. Sometimes an actor wasn't available to redub their work. It was usually for location work.

The sound on the videotape episodes could so with a good clean up just as the pictures need it. The sound on Death of a Great Dane is the worst.

[Anthony McKay]

I didn't spot an over-use of RP. As The Avengers was still near its gritty espionage/detective series roots the use of non-RP/regional accents is fairly common to give chracters some depth.

The big problem is the sound quality - a lot of the time I have to stop and go back - even then I can't catch the dialogue.

[VA_Avenger]

The sound on Death of a Great Dane is the worst.

Amen! I watched that one last night. My rewind button is worn out, and I still am not sure what they said half the time.