You got it, Geoff.

English actors do an excellent job with accents. Probably because regional accents are closer together geographically, actors develop an ear for them, and can do a good job with any accent they study.

I have told this before, but will repeat it here. In a pub in Scotland, the group at the next table was speaking in a heavy dialect. I needed directions, so I approached them with some trepidation, I wondered if I could understand what they told me. I got my answers in speech that would pass in a BBC newscast.