Birmingham is a large and diverse city, so there isn’t one single way that every Brummie sounds. Still, there’s a distinctive accent associated with the people of Brumtown (as the locals call it). In 2025, it was (unfairly) voted the UK’s most hated, but if you’re an actor looking to hone your Brummie accent, you’re in the right place.
Learning the accent is much more than adding a few “babs” to your vocabulary. It’s about the distinctive vowel sounds, mouth placement, rhythm, and intonation – and getting those details right can make the difference between an authentic performance and a caricature.
For advice on how to do a Brummie accent, we spoke to voice and dialect coach Rachel Coffey. Here’s what she had to say.
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The Birmingham accent is melodic. “The traditional Brummie accent…has a quite sing-songy melody on a minor chord,” Coffey says. “So it sounds a little sad and falling away rather than rolling along like Welsh or bright like Liverpool.”
Rather than using lots of dramatic pitch variation, actors should aim for a stable tone. “The Brummie accent can also sound a little flat, as there isn’t a huge pitch variation in it,” Coffey says. The accent is also nonrhotic, which means the “r” isn’t generally pronounced at the end of a word or before another consonant. “Father” and “mother,” for example, can sound more like “Fah-th’uh” and “Muth-uh,” Coffey says.
“The placement is interesting,” Coffey says. “People often think it’s nasal, but if we think too nasal we might end up in Liverpool.” Instead, Coffey recommends focusing on a more contained placement. “It is actually placed in the centre of the mouth, under the nose; the back of the tongue is slightly lifted and the front of the mouth soft but contained,” she says.
That creates the accent’s characteristic soft, slightly flat quality. The important thing is not to force the sound through the nose. “This is a big difference from Liverpool, where the air is carried through the nose,” Coffey says.
Coffey says to focus on the relationship between the “strut” (as in “cup” and “cut”) vowels and their “foot” (as in “put” and “book”) equivalents, which bear a closer resemblance the farther north you get. In traditional Brummie, these are the same as each other, “as they are in Northern England,” she says. “However, they have a slight ‘oo’ sound to them, unlike Northern, which is more of an ‘uh’ sound. In Southern English, they are two distinct sounds.”
The “ay” sound is another one to learn. Words such as “pay” and “day” have a diphthong. Coffey gives the following example:
Standard southern English: “Hurray, it’s payday.”
Brummie: “Hah-rae-y, eets pae-y dae-y.”
The key is to listen for the movement within the vowel rather than simply replacing one sound with another. “But remember to keep it with a slight flatness, or you’ll end up in the North East!” Coffey says.
The “kit” vowel (as in “ship” and “bit”) can also sound different from standard southern English, with a flatter “ee” quality, while the “dress” vowel (like “head” and “red”) is a more pronounced “eh” sound. For example:
Standard southern English: “It’s a mess, isn’t it?”
Brummie: “Eats ah m-ehss, eesn’t eat.”
Once you’ve established the accent itself, a few pieces of Brummie slang can help make your character’s dialogue feel more natural. One of the best-known is “bab.” “‘Bab’ gets used quite often rather than the word ‘love’,” Coffey says.
These expressions are very useful character details, but don’t fall into the trap of thinking that using lots of local slang automatically makes an accent convincing. It’s more important to get the accent right.
One of the biggest dangers when attempting a Brummie accent is going too broad. “As always, going for caricature [is a risk], which can be easily done with Brummie and at best will land you firmly in the Black Country,” Coffey says. “The most important thing is checking that your character has what is thought of as a traditional Brummie accent (think Peaky Blinders), because, if not, you could be way off,” she adds.
There is considerable variation within Birmingham, as with any city, so really think about what sort of accent your character may have. “When I studied in Birmingham 15 years ago, that traditional sound had all but died out,” Coffey says. “In recent years, it has become more popular.”
Age, social background, and where someone lives can all affect the way they speak. “Birmingham is a very diverse city,” Coffey says. “People from different backgrounds and social groups might sound wildly different from one another.”
The solution is research, Coffey says. “Always find real people speaking who match your character type and the year the script is set in, if possible, to ensure you sound more authentic than not,” she advises.
If you’re preparing for an audition, Coffey recommends building a small library of authentic voices. “Find three recordings of people around the age, social group, and time period that reflect your character, and use it to model the speech on,” she says.
Listen to those speakers repeatedly. Don’t just copy individual words; pay attention to their mouth placement, vowel sounds, rhythm, pitch, and the way their voice falls at the end of phrases. “Also take a look at the map!” Coffey says. “Birmingham is a big city, but there are lots of areas close by that sound different, so find out where your character is from and make sure your source material is true to that.”
