I know that in the wrong hands top-ten lists can be cheesy, tired and clichéd. They can overly simplify matters and reduce a broad and complex subject into convenient, restricted numbers. Fear not, TV Scoopers – these are not the wrong hands, and so I give you the Top 10 best British actors on American TV.

With the Emmy nominations out, everyone in Britain looks to see who we have nominated from Blighty. Some of these stars receive the acclaim and attention they are deserving of, while the impressive acting and convincing accents of others are neglected in little seen programmes. By limiting this list down to actors rather than all imports, I am omitting presenters (Cat Deeley, Craig Ferguson), reality show stars (The Osbournes), reality show judges (Simon Cowell, Nigel Lythgoe) and any other such folk who have achieved success Stateside (Gordon Ramsay, Darren Brown.) I am ignoring those whose British programmes have fared well (Ricky Gervais, Helen Mirren), those that have maintained their accent (Joan Collins, Alex Kingston) and those who were born in the UK but grew up elsewhere (Mischa Barton, Nicollette Sheridan). I am looking only to those who have managed to break through with nothing but a working passport and a fake New York twang. This list is for those whose performance skills are such that Americans can’t tell that they’re actually British. Impressive stuff indeed.

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