The air in the BBC’s Studio 4B was thick with the scent of ozone and floor wax. Arthur Penhaligon adjusted his headphones, the leather cracked and smelling of decades of broadcast history. Across the glass, the producer gave a sharp, downward slice of his hand.
The producer gasped in the booth, but Arthur stayed still. For the first time in his career, he felt the absurdity of his own vowels. He realized that for every "received" word he uttered, a thousand other lived experiences were being "un-received." [S1E5] Received Pronunciation
Arthur looked at the word P-R-O-N-U-N-C-I-A-T-I-O-N typed in 12-point Arial on his sheet. He thought of his father, a coal miner who had paid for elocution lessons so his son wouldn't have to "smell of the earth." The air in the BBC’s Studio 4B was
