Fans of Channel 4’s hugely popular Gogglebox programme have been demanding the show’s new Glaswegian family be given subtitles, because English viewers “can’t understand a word they’re saying”.
Twitter went into meltdown after the Manuel family were introduced in Friday night’s episode.
Channel 4 was swamped with requests to provide subtitles for the family made up of parents Donna, a Ministry of Defence worker, Charles, who studied at Glasgow University, and son Grant.
Viewers tweeted to say their “very strong” accents made it very difficult to know what the family were talking about.
“Not to be mean but I can’t understand a thing that new family from Glasgow are saying #Gogglebox,” one person tweeted.
Another viewer, Emily Royston, posted: “What’s funnier, the new Scottish family or the dozens of tweets about how we can’t understand them?”
Lis added: “Going to need subtitles with that Scottish family.”
However, the confusion spread wider across the country as one of resident of Scotland said: “I’m Scottish and I’ve no idea what the new Scottish family on @C4Gogglebox just said.”
L Copeland added: “I can’t understand the new Scottish woman on #gogglebox – and I’m from Glasgow!!”
One family even managed to get the subtitles in place, explaining: “Watching #Gogglebox on catch up. OMG we’ve had to put subtitles on as we can’t understand the new family.”
It’s not the first time viewers in the UK have been left scratching their heads at Scottish accents.
When The Scheme – first aired on BBC Scotland – was shown south of the Border it was heavily subtitled so people in the Home Counties could keep up to speed with the frantic antics of those living in Kilmarnock’s Onthank estate.
Ken Loach’s Sweet Sixteen was subtitled when it was shown by the BBC and viewers in England regularly used to complain they could not understand a word of comedy classic Rab C Nesbitt.
Away from the accent stooshie, a row has also been stirring because a Rangers mug could be seen prominently on the family’s coffee table.
Football fans also flooded social media with comments about the mug.
Channel 4 insiders are optimistic the family – who moved south and now live in Croydon, south London – will help the programme to secure further ratings success.
It regularly pulls in more than three million viewers.
Fans are sold on its simple format – which shows other like-minded families watching the telly.
Their often frank and funny comments are the simple secret which has helped Gogglebox secure industry plaudits and a current nomination for a telly Bafta award.
Gogglebox began with a modest four-episode run on C4 in March 2013 and drew around 1.2 million viewers, curious enough to investigate how telly about people watching telly could possibly work.
The audience grew exponentially thanks to word-of-mouth and social media.
The changing “cast” of householders featured on the programme have all built up substantial followings on Twitter.
Two of the biggest stars are posh couple Steph and Dom, who laugh along to the programmes with a seemingly ever-present glass of alcohol in hand.
The show is made by the same people behind shows such as Faking It, Wife Swap and Undercover Boss.
Executive producer Tania Alexander said the original idea was for it to be a “mix of Harry Hill and The Royle Family”.
She said she knew Channel 4 had a hit on its hands after seeing very early test screens.
“I just realised how funny people were if you left them to it,” she said.
READ MORE
Gogglebox’s Tapper family reveal how they became stars in their own living room
Enjoy the convenience of having The Sunday Post delivered as a digital ePaper straight to your smartphone, tablet or computer.
Subscribe for only £5.49 a month and enjoy all the benefits of the printed paper as a digital replica.
Subscribe