Guest of 07.02 AM: Thanks for re-reading what I said and realizing that I wasn't "Rusby-bashing".

As far as the question you ask about the casting and setting, I think the whole show has been constructed in a rather woolly way. As far as I can see and read, it is just set in vaguely "the West Country".

I agree with Geoff - some good actors who have more than proved themselves elsewhere, dealing manfully (or womanfully) with a very weak script. The whole thing looks to me as if the casting happened before the writing - which never works nearly as well as the other way round.

Re. Sue Johnstone: Whether she is a scouser by birth/own speaking voice or not has no bearing whatsoever on the parts in which she, or any accomplished actor, is cast or can deal with. It shouldn't matter where they originate from. What matters is that they present the character (including the appropriate accent) believably, fitting the character they are playing at the time. You don't have to be a Cockney to perform successfully and believably in EastEnders, for instance (e.g. June Brown's own speaking voice is very different from her character).

- jeanie