The BBC only airs half as many Yorkshire accents as it should.
If you think you don’t hear Yorkshire accents enough on the BBC, you’re right.
There are half the number of Yorkshire voices on air as there should be, the Examiner found after analysing the birthplaces and school locations of 168 current BBC presenters and correspondents.
In fact, London and South-eastern voices are so over-represented on BBC airwaves that every other UK region has fewer of its accents on air than it should.
LISTEN to Mike Shaw's verdict of the Happy Valley dialect problems below
Only 8 of the 168 presenters we analysed were born in Yorkshire and the Humber.
Were the BBC to reflect the country’s regions proportionately, it should have 14 presenters from the area.
Geordie voices do even worse, with less than a third of the number of Geordie accents on air as there should be.
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Altogether 21 BBC presenters from the cohort we analysed were born in the North of England - this would be 39 if the region were proportionately represented.
CAN you pass the Yorkshire Citizenship test below?
London is the most over-represented birthplace, with a fifth of BBC presenters being born there - 35 in total. This would only be 22, were BBC voices to reflect the UK’s regions accurately.
The news comes after the BBC ran into criticism over the screening of the hit police drama Happy Valley.
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The show was filmed extensively in Calderdale and Huddersfield.
Our Lauren and Sam discuss Series 2 of Happy Valley below
But the last series, starring Sarah Lancashire as police sergeant Catherine Cawood, was heavily criticised by many for its “mumbling” soundtrack.
Many viewers complained they could hardly hear what was being said but
BBC bosses said at the time poor sound was down to the West Yorkshire dialect spoken in the Yorkshire-set crime drama.
They later confirmed they were looking at the technical quality of the soundtrack.
