As I noted a couple of weeks ago, the Welsh didn't get much of a look-in on British TV until quite recently. For the most part, they were often the butt of comedy or segregated into cartoons, where they didn't fare much better. Rarely even did the part of the Welsh character go to a Welsh actor: invariably it went to someone English who couldn't do a proper Welsh accent.
To see what I mean, here are a few classic cartoons featuring the Welsh:
1) The Willo The Wisp episode The Dragon
2) The Ivor the Engine episode The Egg
3) And the Chorlton and the Wheelies episode Happiness is Hatched
You'll notice that:
- There are no Welsh people doing the voices, only English actors doing bad Welsh accents
- In two of the episodes they're over-excitable and evil. In the other, they have no respect for the natural world
- There's a dragon in each one (although one's not Welsh)
Just thought I'd mention it. Honestly, though, it's really only an excuse for some old kids shows, seeing as it's shaping up into nostalgia week, this week.
July 2, 2008 | Reply
It's an interesting point.
A few years ago I was developing a computer game that needed an australian voice over. The creative director went through a number of actual australian voice artists before settling on a member of staff putting on an australian accent... basically the problem was that of stereotypes... what someone expects to hear rather than what they would actually sound like.
July 2, 2008 | Reply
I did like Ivor the Engine though... crap Welsh accents notwithstanding. Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin really were geniuses. Everything they did was brill.
July 2, 2008 | Reply
I have it on DVD...
July 2, 2008 | Reply
Such a shame you still can't get Noggin the Nog on DVD. I have all the books, but even doing an impression of Oliver Postgate when you read them, it's not the same.
July 2, 2008 | Reply
Yes you can!
July 2, 2008 | Reply
However bad the late Joe Lynch's Welsh accent might have been, his English accent(s) seems to have passed muster.
I like the fact that in Postgate Wales the measure of unimaginable wealth is the ability to import hats from distant lands such as London. And not only that, but new hats -- now there's posh.
July 2, 2008 | Reply
Being Welsh myself I grew up railing against this, well I don't know what to call it really. Cultural bias? It's always seemed rather ironic as the Welsh are natural entertainers. I'd hesitate to call it "the plight of the Welsh" but for a long time the country had been treated (in the media) as something for the English to look down on.
But hopefully we're past that now, there are some exceptionally talented Welsh actors out there (there's also Catherine Zeta-Jones) and you'd be suprised at how many others come from Welsh descent on at least one side of their family.
Thank goodness for Roley Mole, Gavin and Stacey and BBC Wales bringing us drama like Doctor Who, . *Sticks fingers in ears and pretends Torchwood doesn't exist*.
July 2, 2008 | Reply
Yay! *orders*
July 2, 2008 | Reply
I'm one of those wot have Welsh in my distant past - my mother was a Thomas (allegedly some ancestor was mayor of Mongomery), I've also married a Williams, does that make me nearly Welsh enough to visit this blog? Actually even without Welsh antecedents, I'm a Welshophile (if such a word exists) - lots of brilliant holidays (usually, but not always, wet) in both North and South stick very fondly in the memory banks.
Oh and Noggin the Nog ROCKS (as my daughters would say).
July 2, 2008 | Reply
You don't have to be Welsh (or a Welshphile) to come here, but it helps. If not, we'll convert you.