Articles by Rob Buckley

Before I lay my weary head to sleep, I thought I’d leave you with this passing thought about Sunday’s episode of Battlestar Galactica. Don’t worry, UK viewers, it won’t be spoilery, really.

There’s a point where Gaius Baltar (as played by James Callis) reveals that the posh English accent he’s been using since the start of the mini-series is a complete fake. He’s actually from the farming colony of Airlon (or is that Arelon? It’s derived from ‘Aries’ and rhymes with bear-lon, which is a word I’ve just made up, so you work it out).

Then he lapses into his true accent, which is remarkably similar to a Yorkshire accent, James Callis having gone to university in York.

Now, okay, everyone else from Caprica, the posh Southern pansy BSG colony, sounds American, including the secret Brits and Canadians, so it’s not like there’s one accent per colony. But the dialogue leading up to that moment seems to suggest that everyone from Airlon speaks with a similar accent.

So my thought for the day is this: is Baltar now going to be the only character on BSG to have come from Airlon, or can we expect one of the following:

1. Lots of Yorkshire actors getting cast in BSG
2. Lots of American and Canadian actors trying to fake a Yorkshire accent under James Callis’ tutelage
3. Lots of British actors who aren’t from Yorkshire trying to fake a Yorkshire accent?

I do hope it’s number 3. You just can’t get away with crap regional accents on British TV any more, so it would be just fabby if former culprits Nigel Havers et al could be jetted off to Canada to give out soaring renditions of “Ee bah gum! Ya daft ‘apeth, Adama! Dooant trust t’ cylons. Those robots are evil. Naw launch t’ vipers.”

On the other hand, which of your favourite Yorkshire actors would you like to see in BSG? Patrick Stewart? Keith Barron? Sean Bean? Or even – and you know you want it bad – Brian Blessed?