Open Lecture: Charlie and “The Dig”

Charlie Haylock is a spoken English historian and author of “In a Manner of Speaking” and best-selling author including, “Sloightly on th’ Huh”, an affectionate look at Suffolk.

Charlie and “The Dig” is an intriguing — and sometimes hilarious — look behind the scenes at the making of the Netflix film The Dig. The film, based on the novel of the same name, tells the story of the famous Sutton Hoo burial ship and the people involved in its discovery.

Charlie shares how what first looked like a potential “scam” email from The Dig’s producer turned out to be genuine — soon followed by a phone call from Ralph Fiennes himself.

He also reveals how Ralph Fiennes, who played Basil Brown, and the other “Suffolk” actors learned their Suffolk accents, going to great lengths to avoid sounding like West Country pirates.

Charlie even includes a dialect tour of the British Isles, showing how a deaf person can lip-read and identify dialects — one of the reasons he was chosen as Ralph’s dialect coach.

Finally, Charlie explains the detailed and extreme lengths Ralph Fiennes went to not only play Basil Brown but, to actually become him as well.