Members of the acting fraternity put themselves through all kinds of pain for their art.
They shed pounds, dye their hair and learn to horse-ride to add authenticity to their role, but there are some skills harder to pin down than a cloud. Nailing a Scottish accent is surely up the ultimate challenge.
Martin Clunes is the latest to come in for flack for his turn as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in new ITV series Arthur and George, but his attempt is far from the worst. Many of the profession's great and good have tried and failed in toe-curling fashion.
In order of descending awfulness:
1. James Doohan as Star Trek's Scotty: as well as being the Go To guy in any "beaming up" situation, Scotty, as played by Canadian James Doohan, was perhaps best known for his toe-curling attempts to sound "Scatch".
2. Christopher Lambert in Highlander; just no.
3. Richard Attenborough in Jurassic Park: It came, it went, it went again, sometimes all within one scene.
4. Katharine Hepburn in The Little Minister: she rocked a historical costume but the great Ms Hepburn portrayed both Mary Queen of Scots and the laird's daughter, and failed miserably on both counts.
5.Mel Gibson in Braveheart: he smashed it on the catchphrases but longer dialogue exposed an odd fusion of weegie ned and confused Sydneysider.
6. Isla Fisher in Burke an Hare; despite having Scottish parentage, the delectable Aussie scored a C for cheesy in this British-made comedy.
7.Mike Myers as Shrek; the Canadian has given several airings to his Scottish accent including in the Austin Powers films and So I Married An Axe Murderer, proving that practice makes, well, passable.
8. Robin Williams in Mrs Doubtfire:Although not flawless, the comedian made for a fairly convincing Scots dame.
9. Jonny Lee Miller in Trainspotting; as well as being easy on the eye, Angelina Jolie's former squeeze did a fine job as Sick Boy in the 1996 film Trainspotting. The English actor's accent chimed perfectly with those of his Scottish co-stars. His method acting approach of spending several months hanging out in local pubs with the natives seems to have done the trick.
10. Sean Connery: Shurely, shome mishtake.
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