Fuller House gave Stephanie Tanner a British accent in season 1 of the Netflix show. The series, a revival of the popular 90s sitcom Full House, followed the lives of the widowed D.J. Fuller (née Tanner), sister Stephanie (who actually became a DJ), and best friend Kimmy Gibbler. Stephanie and Kimmy move in with D.J. to help her raise her three sons, with recurring appearances by their dad, Danny, uncle Jesse, and Joey from the original series. Stephanie grew up in the U.S., but she develops a British accent that is pronounced at the start of the series. Here’s why Fuller House had Stephanie speaking differently.
When Fuller House begins, Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) has recently returned to San Francisco from London, where she works in various nightclubs as a disc jockey. It’s worth noting that Stephanie hasn’t always lived in London and has spent the majority of her music career touring the world and DJing in a plethora of countries. Throughout the series, she regales her family with stories of her time at Coachella and other music festivals. Stephanie’s British accent is pretty terrible and, as she asks for things like water or the whereabouts of her “lil’ sis” Michelle, her annunciation begins to grate on the nerves of her sister, nephews, and the rest of the family who all think it’s weird.
While the series expects fans to believe Stephanie Tanner simply adopted the accent of the city she was living in at the time of her arrival, it’s hard to imagine an adult completely abandoning the way they’ve spoken for decades. However, it’s obvious the reason for Stephanie’s horrible accent is because of her time working in England. Maybe she thought she sounded cool. She seems to believe she is British there for a second. Either way, her new manner of speaking sounded incredibly fake. Luckily, her use of the accent doesn’t last very long on Fuller House.
Stephanie’s British accent is there one second and gone the next — and it transpires over the course of one episode, with the middle Tanner sister abandoning her new pronunciation by the end of the pilot. Kimmy, Stephanie’s frenemy-turned-surrogate, is the one responsible for the disappearing accent. After Kimmy throws her socked feet on the kitchen table, Stephanie is so irked by the insidious smell that she returns to speaking with her American accent and says her signature phrase, “How rude!” for good measure. Kimmy’s stinky feet saved the day and everyone’s poor ears!
After five seasons of Fuller House, it’s easy to forget that Stephanie had a British accent at all, especially since it only lasted for one episode and was inconsequential to her character’s story moving forward. It was certainly a strange gag in the multi-season run of Fuller House and one that is probably best forgotten. Surely, giving Stephanie a British accent was meant to be funny (as most jokes in sitcoms are wont to do), but Stephani didn’t need to be weighed down by the addition of something as silly as that. It came off as mocking and ridiculously over-the-top for no reason, which is saying something.
