Jodie Comer is outstanding, but she shouldn’t be the limit for Scouse representation on screen

Photo by Conor Samuel on Unsplash

It’s been a few months since I went to see The End We Start From in the cinema, but something about it hasn’t left my mind since.

I knew little about the film going in other than it being centred around a fictional natural disaster and led by acclaimed actress, and fellow-Scouser, Jodie Comer (the reason I bought a ticket.)

As Comer opened her mouth to utter her first line, I held my breath in tense anticipation, hoping the actress would use her native accent in the film. When she did, I was pleasantly surprised - though, I wish I didn’t have to be - and it is this element, and why it meant so much to me, that I have reflected on for far longer than any other part of the film.

If the natural disaster featured in this film were to actually happen, it would undoubtedly affect Scousers too. So, there should be no reason why this experience would be any less valid to portray on screen. Yet, so often, in stories that have no narrative requirement to be set in London or featuring exclusively Southern accents, the presence of regional accents is markedly rare. As a result, watching a Scouse actor portray the lead role with their authentic accent in a story that doesn’t necessitate this for a stereotypical purpose felt genuinely uplifting and refreshing.

Elsewhere, Scousers seem to exist in media exclusively as side characters, embodying worn-out stereotypes as we are forced to accept a monolithic presentation portraying us as criminals or uneducated objects of ridicule.

It’s a running joke in my house that every time a drug dealer or convict appears on a soap opera we wait to see if they have a Scouse accent (they usually do).

In recent years, Liverpool’s popularity as a filming location has exploded, becoming the most filmed UK city outside of London and featuring in everything from The Batman and The Crown to Taylor Swift music videos. Unlike London, however, this has not corresponded with more stories actually set in the city, with it instead serving as a stand-in for other locations.

We remain left with the same tiresome representation we have become accustomed to, which restricts Liverpool to a setting almost exclusively for stories about poverty or crime (truly, the inordinate number of ‘gritty’ Liverpool crime dramas is astounding, exemplified in Liverpolitan’s article on the topic.)

Of course, deprivation and crime are important issues deserving of depiction. Yet, here lies the difference between Liverpool and London : yes London sees its fair share of harrowing crime dramas but it’s also home to an abundance of romances, comedies and family adventures. Meanwhile, Liverpool seems to be granted only bleakness and misery as Scousers are used not as sympathetic or aspirational characters, but lazy short-hand to represent the downtrodden and degenerate.

The idea of a rom-com like Notting Hill or Love Actually featuring Scousers, where people fall in love and just happen to do so in a Northern city seems like an unreasonable expectation, but it really shouldn’t be.

A current example of the representation we actually see, features in Emerald Fennell’s 2023 film Saltburn, in which leading character, Oliver, has a (questionable) Scouse accent in the moments Barry Keogan seemingly remembers his character is from Liverpool. This role is enveloped in stereotypes and centred around Oliver’s ‘otherness’ and ultimately depravity.

What Saltburn is trying to ‘say’ about class is evasive and unclear, yet, from conversations with multiple Scousers many feel it is uncomfortable to watch and at least somewhat at the expense of Liverpool.

Scousers are rarely represented on screen and when they are they’re usually played by non-scousers evidencing offensive stereotypes with offensively bad accents.

I witnessed many people in Liverpool find joy in Josie Sedgewick-Davies’ ‘Scouse Chicken’ Frizzle in 2023’s Chicken Run sequel. It was only a claymation chicken and yet it reflected a rare example of an authentic Liverpool accent on screen in a role that was allowed to simply be fun and individual.

While witnessing Jodie Comer’s deserved astronomical rise is inspiring, the success of one individual doesn’t do enough to truly uplift the representation of Scousers as a whole. If anything, it only highlights how little we see elsewhere.

It’s also notable that Comer’s first 3 breakout roles in Killing Eve, Free Guy and Prima Facie all featured her without her native accent, suggesting she had to prove herself before she was granted the privilege of being taken seriously as a Scouse actor.

Comer seems to be the Scouser on cinema screens at the moment, similarly to how the incomparably talented Stephen Graham is often the ‘token’ Scouser on British TV shows.

Seemingly, her sheer extraordinary talent as an individual has allowed her to be the exception that lets society tick Scousers off the list of those deserving representation. But this shouldn’t be the limit. For a city that houses so many talented performers, we deserve so much more Scouse, and indeed regional, accents in film and TV.