I love bad TV. I’m drawn to the types of shows that get cancelled more than once. While the Brits are pretty exceptional at making bad TV, my soft spot is for American programs, the ones aired on cable channels like Space or FX with outlaws, violence and thick southern accents.

After living in the UK for almost a year now, I’m always surprised when I see a lead actor from a bad American TV show interviewed over here and it turns out they are British. Is there something about being British that lends itself to over-the-top tough guy acting with hyper-stereotyped accents?

Here’s my list of the top five British actors on bad American TV or the top five British actors whose characters wouldn’t sound as tough if they had British accents.

Jericho
America is under attack and being torn in two. The duty of defending freedom, liberty and the American way is in the hands of Lennie James, a playwright from London.

True Blood
He plays a civil war soldier made immortal and lurking in the shadows of a Louisiana swamp, but Stephen Moyer revealed his Britishness on Jonathan Ross the other week. His character also happens to be the best vegetarian vampire since Count Duckula.

Sons of Anarchy
Harleys, open road and AK47s. Can you get any more American than that? Even with Charlie Hunnam, the English dude from Undeclared, vying for presidency of the motorcycle club, this show is still badass.

Life
Damian Lewis stars in a play showing around the corner from Speed HQ with Keira Knightley. I know him better as Charlie Crews from Life, a cop who was wrongly imprisoned for 12 years but is now out and back on his beat.

Battlestar Galactica
Are the Twelve Colonies considered America? Either way, Jamie Bamber speaks with a convincing tough-guy American accent as Apollo.

Can you think of any others that stand out?