James Nesbitt has revealed he frequently fights to use his native Irish accent on TV.

The Ballymena-born actor (61) has enjoyed a prolific career, starring in series such as Murphy’s Law and Bloodlands, while finding international fame more recently in a run of Harlan Coben adaptations on Netflix – Stay Close (2021), Missing You (2025) and Run Away (2026).

In a new interview, Nesbitt pointed to the “global platform” the streaming service provides as a reason why he advocates for the use of his own accent.

“I absolutely fight to do the Northern Irish voice now because I want that sound to travel the world,” he said.

“I love the idea of those countries where they dub the actors trying to translate ‘a bucket of shite’ into Chinese.”

He described the Coben adaptations as “bonkers”, but called the author “great” and said he loved how much excitement they whipped up.

In the interview with The Times, he said: “The Netflix thing has been quite a shift for me because I’ve been well known here in the UK and a bit in Europe, but I’ve never really had a global platform.

“Anywhere I go now, since I did my first Harlan one, it’s extraordinary. You’re known everywhere.”

Nesbitt also recalled his audition for the ITV relationship comedy Cold Feet (1997 to 2003), when he first insisted on using his own accent.

“There was sweat on my palms because I wasn’t really known, and it was only a pilot, but everyone went up for it,” he said.

“I knew it was going to be good and a chance it was going to be massive. I walked in and said, ‘I’m the only person that can play this, and it has to be done in a Northern Irish accent’.

“I said to the director, ‘You will be able to take credit for having a Northern Irish voice in a drama where it’s nothing to do with the Troubles for the first time’.”

Nesbitt explained that while he holds both Irish and British passports, he very much considers himself “an Irish Protestant from the North of Ireland”.

“[Which] in no way denies anyone else the titles that they give themselves,” he added.

“I think you can call yourself Irish, you can call yourself Northern Irish, you can call yourself from the North, you can do whatever you want.”