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Sarah Lancashire sent fans into a tizzy when she opened her mouth to thank them for her National Television Award on Tuesday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 58-year-old actress received a gong at London\u2019s O2 for her role in BBC drama Happy Valley and delivered a speech to the packed out arena.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shocking viewers and the evening\u2019s host Joel Dommett, the audience couldn\u2019t get over how different the star\u2019s real voice was from her on-screen character\u2019s accent.<\/p>\n
Used to hearing a broad northern twang come out of Sarah\u2019s mouth, no one was ready for the well-spoken, southern drawl that escaped her lips as she thanked her list of nearest and dearest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Members of the public took to Twitter to express their amusement and disbelief at the winner of the best actress award\u2019s real voice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One penned: \u2018Watching the NTAs-always good entertainment value-and when you realise\/hadn\u2019t realised before (like the Compere) that\u00a0 is Sarah Lancashire\u2019s real accent and demeanour (quite prim and proper and quietly-spoken)-so very different from the characters she\u2019s played over the years\u2026.\u2019<\/p>\n
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Later on in the evening, the star was awarded a special recognition presented to her by Sir Ian McKellen.<\/p>\n
As she walked to the stage, the crowd chanted her name and wiping back tears she exclaimed: \u2018You have no idea how it feels to have so many nice things said about you!\u2019<\/p>\n