Starz‘s new thriller The Couple Next Door follows wholesome married couple Evie (Eleanor Tomlinson) and Pete (Alfred Enoch) as they embrace the mundane pleasures of suburban life, only to discover that there are dangerous temptations lurking for them in their new cul de sac. Their new neighbors, hunky motorcycle cop Danny (Sam Heughan) and sultry yoga teacher Becka (Jessica de Gouw), soon introduce the duo to their rule-bending lifestyle, complete with weed-infused barbecues, drunken beach days, and, most pertinently, an open marriage.
The Starz series not only offers viewers a scintillating taste of forbidden desire, but it also lets network heartthrob Sam Heughan stretch himself in ways Outlander never lets him. In The Couple Next Door, Heughan sheds the heroic highlander Jamie Fraser and becomes Leeds motorcycle cop Danny. Sure, that means that he’s traded kilts and tricorn hats for jeans and leathers, but Heughan’s also swapped his trademark Scottish brogue for a Northern English accent.
“The show is set in this suburban world and it is kind of a nowhere place. It’s supposed to be a bit of morality tale. It could be the U.S., it could be anywhere,” Heughan said, explaining the show’s setting to Decider. “However, they did decide that it would be set in northern England, near Leeds.”
Heughan went on to point out that Leeds worked well as a location for the story because The Couple Next Door‘s Eleanor Tomlinson is from a “nearby town.” He added that the Leeds accent “felt right” his character, given what we learn about Danny.
“You know, he’s a man that hasn’t really traveled that far. He probably has when he met Becka, probably in Thailand, but he’s a homebody. He’s a home boy,” Heughan said. “And I think, yeah, it says something about him.”
When Decider asked if the Leeds accent posed a challenge for Heughan, he said the only hiccup came from the fact that the show was shot abroad in addition to Leeds itself.
“Yeah, it was kind of weird because we were obviously shooting it in Belgium and the Netherlands, so there were a lot of weird accents going around,” he said. “So I don’t know, maybe it goes a little bit Flemish at times.”
“No, it’s so fun to play a different character. The accent I’ve got on Outlander is obviously not my accent, as well.“
There is one thing, though, that Sam Heughan has in common with Danny. That would be a love of motorcycles.
Heughan confirmed to Decider that he did almost all of his own motorcycle riding in The Couple Next Door, shouting out the “incredible stunt team” who tackled one “pretty explosive” action scene. “But yeah, no, we did do a lot of riding,” Heughan said.
“My costar [Joel Morris], who plays Gary, he’s fantastic, but I believe he told the production that he’d been riding for many years, but actually he had only just passed the test,” Heughan revealed. “The first day of us both riding, I think we werre both nervous, because it’s rare that you get to ride as much on a show, but we did.”
Luckily no Sam Heughans were injured in the making of The Couple Next Door.
The Couple Next Door Episode 1 is now streaming on Starz.
The post Sam Heughan Explains Why He Shed His Scottish Accent for Starz’s Erotic Thriller ‘The Couple Next Door’: “It’s So Fun To Play a Different Character” appeared first on Decider.
