GMB's Richard Madeley surprises viewers with unexpected 'real accent' he changes for TV

ok.co.uk:

Whilst many Good Morning Britain and longtime This Morning viewers might know Richard Madeley for his slightly-posh and TV-ready accent, they might be surprised to hear that his original accent is a lot different.

The 68 year old made an appearance on This Morning - which he presented from 1988 to 2002 - on Wednesday, 15 May, where he spoke to new host Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard about his new novel, Father's Day.

During the chat, Ben questioned Richard on his real accent, as the latter swiftly switched into it - revealing that he is originally from Romford, Essex.

Ben said: "Your TV accent is actually a persona - you're actually a bit more estuarial, a bit more like me. You're an Essex boy." Reverting to his real accent, Richard said: "Well, basically, I was born in Romford, Essex, right? "And I'm not putting this [accent] on, I'm slipping into this, like if I spoke French, I could speak French. "So this is how I spoke.This is my natural speaking voice. "But my dad was a public schoolboy, and he dropped 'hs' and he hated the East London Essex accent, so at home I spoke like this [TV accent], but if I spoke like this at school, I'd get beaten up.