Doctor Who’s Mandip Gill has a response to Americans who can’t understand her accent
Trying to understand the accents on Doctor Who isn’t that hard, but there’s been some concern with the newer stars being from Northern England. Mandip Gill thinks there’s nothing wrong.
The new season of Doctor Who is filled with beautiful imagery and messages for the audience of the show. From one of the most diverse groups of companions to the first ever female Doctor, the new take on the show is uniting fans of old and a new slew of fans coming to the show because of Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor.
Being the first female Doctor after the show has run for fifty plus years is a little sad (as the show says, it’s about time that she regenerated into a woman), but the way the season is heading, it is very clear that the show isn’t just about the change in the Doctor. It is focusing on the group of companions and their dynamic and respect for the Doctor.
The problem, though, is that both Mandip Gill (who plays Yaz) and Jodie Whittaker are both from Northern England and their accents have supposedly been hard for American audiences to hear. But Gill argues that this definitely shouldn’t be a problem, because they’re not the first stars from Northern England.
And she isn’t wrong. Gill pointed out to Stylist that there are plenty of people from Northern England who we have accepted into our cultural zeitgeist without complaint. And if we can understand them, then we could definitely understand the new companions on Doctor Who. In the interview, she said:
"We were made aware that could be an issue from the beginning, but how I justified it was like, “You’ve got Scary Spice in the States, and she’s way more Northern than we are. So if you can understand her, which you completely do ‘cause she gets that X Factor job again and again, you can definitely understand us!”"
Gill and Jodie Whittaker also have a fun game of “Who is more Northern” that the two partake in. For example, Gill has seemingly won when The Late Show With Stephen Colbert couldn’t spell out “Huddersfield” on a recent appearance.
The two go back and forth with each other, saying to the Radio Times that they make one another more Northern when they are talking at lunchtime. It is just so sweet to see how much this cast is enjoying the situation they’ve found themselves in. They are part of one of the biggest shows on television and they are changing history with this cast.
Doctor Who premieres on BBC America every Sunday. Make sure to check out this season because Jodie Whittaker brings a beautiful take to the centuries-old Doctor. And now that she has her TARDIS, there isn’t anything stopping her or her group of best friends.
Next. Doctor Who: 4 guesses on who (or what) the Timeless Child could be. dark