Suffolk dialect coach Charlie Haylock shares his memories of making Netflix film The Dig with Ralph Fiennes
Jaws dropped as renowned actor Ralph Fiennes stood up after a long day filming Netflix blockbuster The Dig and launched into the famous soliloquy from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
With a Tony Award-winning portrayal of the Prince of Denmark under his belt he had spoken those words many times – but never like this.
In a broad Suffolk accent, he began: “To be, or not to be” . . . but this was no comedy moment. It was mesmerising.
Looking on was the man who made it possible, dialect coach Charlie Haylock, who helped the star master the voice of Suffolk-born archaeologist Basil Brown for the film.
“It was my most memorable experience during filming,” says Charlie. “There was just stunned silence. He said it took Shakespeare to a higher level, and those watching him said ‘yes, you brought it alive’.”
Fiennes went to extraordinary lengths not just to play, but to become, the unassuming, self-taught archaeologist who first excavated the Anglo Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo.
Part of that was to ask Charlie, whose knowledge of Suffolk and its dialect is second to none, to teach him how not to sound like a West Country pirate.
Just how forensically the actor approached his task is one of the insights Charlie shares in a talk that has been packing out venues in Suffolk and beyond for the past 18 months.
Charlie and The Dig is an intriguing – and often hilarious – glimpse behind the scenes of the time he worked on the film after being hired to coach not only Fiennes but all the other actors who needed authentic accents.
The talk has proved so popular that on Saturday, February 18, he will deliver it for the 100th time, with 50 more bookings still in the pipeline. It was standing room only when he spoke to Sudbury U3A last month.
“People ask me if I get fed up with it but the answer is definitely not. Everywhere is different. The audiences are always appreciative – it’s fantastic and I go home feeling chuffed.”
The Dig, released in 2021, tells the story of the discovery in 1939 of the famous Sutton Hoo treasure.
Basil Brown unearthed the grave of a 7th century East Anglian king when he dug into a burial mound on land owned by widow Edith Pretty, played in the film by Carey Mulligan.
Further excavations revealed the stunning Sutton Hoo treasure which is now in the British Museum.
Fiennes found Charlie on a YouTube video about the history of spoken English while he was researching for his role as Basil.
“He said ‘that’s the man I want to be my dialect coach’. I got an email from Netflix saying you’ll be getting a call from Ralph Fiennes. I thought it couldn’t be genuine, but 10 minutes later he rang,” says Charlie, who lives in Great Cornard.
“I worked with him for two and a half months before filming started, and did two workshops in London for the others, then three months filming.
“Ralph and I did a lot of our training at the Quay Theatre in Sudbury. He is very hard-working and diligent and so am I. He has no airs and graces. We were like two peas in a pod.”
The friendship that grew between them continues to this day. It led to a huge surprise for the audience at one of Charlie’s talks when the actor, who had slipped unnoticed into a chair near the door, joined him for a question and answer session.
Fiennes, whose film roles include Harry Potter’s arch-enemy Lord Voldemort, had just finished a long and tiring run of stage appearances.
“He called and said ‘what’s Suffolk for knackered?’ He just wanted a relaxing afternoon. He wanted to come and listen, and asked me to reserve him a chair,” Charlie recalls.
The Dig was filmed mostly in Surrey – doing it at Sutton Hoo was out of the question as it would have meant closing down the National Trust site. But some riverside scenes were filmed in Suffolk.
“All the actors said Suffolk was the most difficult accent they have ever had to learn.
“Usually people trying to do a Suffolk accent sound like someone from west of Swindon crossed with Long John Silver,” he says, emphasising the point with a convincing ‘oo-aaarr’.
His fine-tuned ear means he can switch in seconds from Suffolk to West Country to Cockney, Scouse, Birmingham, Geordie, and back again.
But probably the biggest challenge for the cast was the Suffolk ‘ow’ and ‘ee’ sounds as in how and cheese. Even Charlie struggles to find a way to write them phonetically.
And that was where his unique method of coaching came into its own. “I do it with mirrors,” he explains.
Checking their lips were in the right position was the secret to nailing the Suffolk vowels.
“We resonate at the front of the mouth. We don’t open our mouths wide. Unlike some dialects we also pronounce the letter H, as in ‘over hee-er’. If you resonate at the back of the throat you can’t pronounce an H.”
When the BBC’s Martha Kearney interviewed him for Radio Four and tried to Suffolk-ate her accent, he found a novel way to help her say ‘cheese’ by telling her to ‘blow me a kiss’. The encounter became one of the most popular pieces aired that year.
Also important for authenticity in the film was that the 1939 version of Suffolk spoken by Basil – who left school aged 12 to work on his father’s farm – was not quite the same as it sounds today.
“I had to teach him how my grandfather would have said it. Suffolk today tends to be a little bit quicker. Back then it was a nice steady pace, with more dialect words.”
They had to be careful not to use too much dialect in the film as it would baffle viewers . . . even so, the American version comes with subtitles.
“I taught the actors an accent rather than a dialect. We were filming in September, and there was a heavy dag (dew) most days. But they couldn’t say dag in the film because no one outside Suffolk would understand it.
“Some things we could get away with, like Basil saying ‘you marnt be down there Mrs Pretty’, because it was obvious marnt means mustn’t.”
Dialect, he says, is made up of three things ... vocabulary, with its own unique words, grammar – for instance saying I driv instead of I drove, or runned instead of ran, and accent.
Fiennes, who was born in Ipswich but moved from Suffolk at an early age, says that Charlie is a perfectionist.
“His pleasure when we got it right was tangible. I loved that it was a matter of pride for Charlie that he wanted us to speak the Suffolk dialect accurately.
“His pleasure in the work made it one of the most fulfilling experiences.”
So does Charlie think Fiennes could now pass for the Suffolk native he actually is? Probably not.
“He says if he had another Suffolk part he would have to call on me again because he gives 100 per cent to his next part, and loses the previous ones.”
Monica Dolan, who played May Brown, says: “You have to be brave with those Suffolk sounds – when it sounded right I thought surely I must look like I’m eating the camera. But those were the times Charlie would say ‘that was it’.
Script supervisor Susanna Lenton says: “Charlie’s approach was fresh and insightful – the result of a mind-boggling knowledge of Suffolk history.
“His gentle manner and dedicated approach to working with the actors was much appreciated by them.”
Charlie’s gift for different accents stems from his childhood, although at first it was more a matter of survival than choice.
A Suffolk boy through and through, he also spent some of his schooldays in south Essex and attended Harold Hill Grammar School, in Romford.
“On the second day I got the cane because of my accent. I had to read out Tudors and Stuarts. I said Too-dors and Stoo-arts. They teacher said ‘no, Tew-dors and Stew-arts’.”
Punishment for his ‘wrong’ pronunciation was swift and painful. “I also got beaten up by other boys because of how I spoke. I had to learn to talk like them very fast. I quickly became bilingual.”
From then on he would notice the differences in the way people spoke. It became a lifetime study.
He is passionate about preserving and recording the Suffolk dialect which has its roots in the language of the East Angles who settled in the county almost 2,000 years ago.
“In 2009 Dr Janina Ramirez did a TV programme called Raiders of the Lost Past in which she said Sutton Hoo was one of the three most important archaeological sites in the world.
“She said ‘this is the first page of English history, and the first page of the English language’.
Charlie began doing talks in 2000, and his first Suffolk dialect book, Sloightly on Th’ Huh!, was published in 2004 becoming an instant best-seller.
Much as he enjoyed working on The Dig, he says he wouldn’t do another film.
“It was the only film I’ve ever done, although I’ve trained theatre actors, but giving up five and a half months was too disruptive.
“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, but I couldn’t do it all the time.”
Doing the rounds with his talk Charlie has met numerous people with memories of Sutton Hoo and who knew those involved.
“There was a lady who had worked in Basil Brown’s garden, a man who was the grandson of Mrs Pretty’s lawyer, and a lady whose father was the policeman who stood guard outside the village hall where the treasure was kept overnight,” he adds.
To find out more visit www.charliehaylock.com
The 100th Charlie and The Dig talk takes place at All Saints’ Church, Bury St Edmunds, on Saturday, February 18, 3.30pm for 4pm start.
A cream tea will be served in the interval. All are welcome. Tickets costing £8 are available from Sheila on 01284 762774 or 07815 504991.
He also gives a range of other Suffolk-based talks.
