I feel like television often misrepresents or underrepresents people from the North. I often find that the stupid person or the criminal is always someone from the North when watching films or television. While some may argue that at least there is somewhat of a representation, I think we should demand more. A better, and more accurate representation of being a Northerner.
Being from the North myself, it would be nice if a lead character had a northern accent, instead of the standard London/southern accent that is often portrayed, not that there is anything wrong with that accent, but it would be nice if a lead character were a strong Northern female from time to time. Take, for example, Happy Valley (2014-2023), in which Sarah Lancashire portrays Catherine Cawood, a hard, fearless police officer who hails in from Halifax, Yorkshire, proving that not all strong lead characters have to come from the capital.
I also want to look at reality television, take Geordie Shore (2011-), for example, this might be a hot take, but I find it somewhat problematic using a group of young Geordies and editing the production to make them look stupid. But I think this issue moves deeper than reality TV and more to what we actually think of certain accents. Because the accent is often quite strong, I find that it is often used against Geordies to make them seem less intelligent, but I find having such a strong accent to be a display of one's regional pride.
I think as a whole, if more serious representations of the North were implemented on television, then we would actually see a rise in respect for Northerners, and we wouldn’t be so surprised when we saw a serious lead character with a strong, Northern, regional accent, I mean, how many serious lead Geordie characters can you think of – except Vera (2011-2025)…