Sunetra Sarker was left outraged on Friday's Loose Women, over a snub to her Scouse accent.
The former Brookside and Ackley Bridge actress was on the panel for the ITV talk show's final episode of the week, sitting on the panel alongside Nadia Sawalha, guest star Lady Leshurr and host Christine Lampard when the topic of accents was raised.
Christine divulged the results of a poll after saying: "Most of us are proud of where we come from, however recent studies have shown that our accents still have an impact on our success in life." The Loose Women anchor was then proud to announce that research from a dating app showed that her Northern Irish accent was in the top five 'most attractive,' alongside Geordie, Welsh, Scottish and Queen's English.
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She then had some bad news for Sunetra when she told her that Scouse was deemed one of the 'least attractive,' landing in the bottom five with Essex, Brummie, Cockney and Leeds. Sunetra shot back: "According to who though?"
Taking her displeasure further, Sunetra said: "I'm outraged, because, do you know what? I don't think I've ever met anyone from Liverpool whose been ashamed of being from Liverpool with a scouse accent. Honestly, I really don't."
Christine replied: "I love a Scouse accent. I do though. I've always loved it," before Sunetra explained that the reason she loved being in Brookside so much was that everyone 'talked like her,' before addressing the difficulties she faced when she left.
Sunetra told her fellow panellists: "When I left there, this little bubble where it was safe to have a Scouse accent and travelled through England and the world; when you mention Liverpool they go football or The Beatles and you go 'oh they're my friends.'
"But other people would go 'what is this voice you're doing?!' And again, in the acting industry, very few roles with a Liverpool accent. I almost watered it down."
She added: "I've had to mould my accent to fit into rooms I've been sat in, because there's a real working class element to people with a Scouse accent. I dream of the day when there'll be a Scouse, or Cockney, or Brummie newsreader."
