| If you really want to get a feel for opinion on the | | | | appreciation of regional accents on a daytime TV |
| street, there can be few better pit stops than the | | | | show takes on the mantle of academic enquiry |
| message boards from BBC America where the | | | | compared with the interests of the sisterhood |
| entertainment value is a good deal higher than the | | | | elsewhere. You will have to read a great many |
| shows themselves. The comments are not confined | | | | websites before you come across anything close to |
| to The Antiques Roadshow alone as there is a | | | | the unadulterated drivel posted by some of these |
| burgeoning interest in Flog It, Bargain Hunt and Cash | | | | fans |
| in the Attic too. The most revealing aspect, in more | | | | "A big thank you to Alistair Appleton's parents for |
| ways than one, is the unerring focus on the personal | | | | blessing us with his presence." |
| attributes of the presenters by female viewers. | | | | "He also is a lovely piece of eye candy." |
| There really is no end of drooling and these ladies let | | | | "Yes, I must agree they are all delicious. I must stick |
| it all hang out, so to speak. There are no less than | | | | with Alistair though! My mum, however, is in heavy |
| thirty five postings on the accent of Bargain Hunt | | | | lust over Phil T. She stops what she is doing when he |
| presenter, Paul Hayes, one of which relates | | | | is down to a tank top on Invaders!" |
| "One of the reasons I watch BBCA - in addition to | | | | The debate and angst over the sexuality of Alistair |
| the fact that I don't see any of the shallowness I | | | | Appleton and Leigh and Leslie Keno, brothers and co |
| find in the shows or people as in my native US - is | | | | hosts of the US version of The Antiques Roadshow, |
| the ACCENTS! I'm currently working on picking up | | | | reached a level of intensity on these boards that |
| the difference between a Scotch and Irish accent." | | | | made the G8 summit on debt relief look no more |
| There must be some pretty desperate housewives | | | | than a minor squabble between friends. It is |
| across Middle America, and indeed Middle England, if | | | | reassuring to know that dimples and a lack of facial |
| they feel sufficiently compelled to convey such | | | | hair can be such a vote winner in these troubled |
| innermost thoughts to a global audience. Yet an | | | | times. |