Actress Michelle Dockery's cut glass English tones beat the likes of quintessential English actor Hugh Grant and current James Bond Daniel Craig, to become the most requested UK accent for the US voiceover industry. 

 

Voiceovers are big business in America covering everything from TV ads to recorded birthday greetings and at the moment famous British - and Irish - voices are particularly popular. 

 

From Nigella Lawson's sultry tones to Liam Neeson's Ulster brogue and even Gordon Ramsay's angry rants¹, demand has more than doubled in the past year. 

 

Copycat versions of these, and others from Hugh Grant to Keith Lemon, are used for all kinds of things including online guides, training videos and even automated² voicemails. 

 

And Lady Mary's cut-glass upper-class accent is the most popular of the lot, according to PPH's analysis of 5,000 job adverts³ requesting British-sounding voices in the USA. 

 

It does not even mean using the real voice of Ms Dockery who plays the aristocrat⁴ in the successful series, said PPH boss Xenios Thrasyvoulou. 

 

Instead, a good impression will do as it will for others on the top 20 list including Daniel Craig and Helen Mirren - familiar to Americans for playing James Bond and The Queen.

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