Lord Alan Sugar has come under fire from Liverpudlians and plenty of other BBC viewers for his scathing review of the channel's new drama The Responder.
Arriving hot on the heels of Four Lives, The Tourist and Rules of the Game, expectations were high for the new series, meaning millions tuned into its first episode on Monday night.
The Responder, written by former copper Tony Schumacher, focuses on Martin Freeman's character Chris, a crisis-stricken, morally compromised, unconventional urgent response officer tackling a series of night shifts on the beat in Liverpool.
Among those who tuned into BBC1 on Monday to watch was Lord Sugar and, on the eve of the latest episode of The Apprentice airing on the same channel, he has sparked controversy with his damning verdict.
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After credits rolled on The Responder's second episode, the business mogul took to Twitter to rant: "Why did the BBC make Martin Freeman speak with a Liverpool accent in The Responder.
"Hard to follow what he and other cast are saying. No disrespect to people of Liverpool they are nice down to earth people. My wife gave up watching she said she could not understand a word."
And while he claimed to mean no disrespect to Scousers everywhere, many took exception to what he had to say.
Swift to response to the negative tweet, one told Lord Sugar: "Try concentrating. There is life above Watford!!"
Former Hollyoaks actor Matt Littler fired back at Sugar to write: "It’s…it’s set in liverpool. That’s… I’m not sure how to answer," and another unimpressed follower replied: "Heard Martin Freeman say he worked hard for a long time trying to perfect a scouse accent, not a scouser myself but sounded really good to me, bit unfair though if it’s set in Liverpool they should make them speak in a Liverpool accent."
Lord Sugar followed up his initial tweet by adding: "It might be set in Liverpool . I can understand Steven Gerrard. I can't understand the character . Sorry but true," before responding to a follower who suggested he put subtitles on, by posting: "Easier not to watch it. Hate subtitles.."
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