You can hear a difference because West Yorkshire/Huddersfield is very different from Salford/Manchester, though they're not that far apart. I don't see any reason they should make anyone use a different accent, though they did famously tell Maxine Peake not to use her Bolton accent in Silk because no one would believe she was intelligent enough to be a barrister with that accent.
I threw out my Star Trek Voyager tapes. I suppose I should get rid of my Buffy box set, Terminator movies, Alien movies, Tomb Raider games, and Ghost in the Shell collection as well, as apparently I'm the wrong gender to appreciate those protagonists as role models.
Survival finished it's original broadcast Dec 1989, unless you count the Children In Need Special Dimensions in Time which was in 1993, so yeah a long time.
She debuted as Ace on 23/11/1987 in the first episode of Dragonfire - so 29 years and 8 months, to the day.
I'm really really hoping that you've seen the movie Goodbye Lenin. Ah well, I can't help but try to keep the torch burning for a franchise that seems hellbent on killing off all its best actors. No wonder Underworld has been a franchise of such diminishing returns. I love Liz Shaw and I think she really got a raw deal. I wish they had brought her back for a proper guest appearance at some point. There would have been a perfect opening for her to be an unwitting assistant of the Master in "The Time Monster" since he hadn't been introduced onto the show until after she left UNIT. Jo Grant takes some getting used to but she became one of my favorites. While she is sometimes a screamer and a damsel, she really cared and oftentimes it would be her enthusiasm and perseverance that would ultimately save the day. And her departure, while subtle, is still one of the most heartbreaking in the show's history. (Nearly every classic series fan video that I've ever seen includes that scene when they're trying to convey sadness, wistfulness, or heartbreak.) I'm not quite sure why Sarah Jane Smith is quite so well beloved. I mean, she's fine and all but she's very middle of the road, IMO. (Of course, I could say the same thing about Rose Tyler and she's also one of the most widely beloved companions.) I only really liked Sarah Jane when she had Harry Sullivan as a foil. I consider the 4th/Sarah Jane/Harry dynamic to be the prototype for the new series' 11th/Amy/Rory dynamic (minus any actual romance between Sarah Jane & Harry, of course). Count me as one who isn't. Actually, given a lot of their dark speculative fiction, the British are really starting to worry me. Stuff like "Turn Left" and Children of Men make it seem like they're really only 1 major setback away from descending into absolute fascism. And then there's "The Beast Below" and Torchwood: Children of Earth, which seem to carry the philosophy, "When in doubt, execute the children with low standardized test scores." That surprises me. I guess maybe they got away with that because he was a fan. I figured notoriety counted for a lot with Doctor Who salaries. I remember hearing that, even after 3 very successful seasons, David Tennant still never got paid as much as Christopher Eccleston. And since Matt Smith was arguably the most unknown Doctor ever, I would have expected him to get even less. But I would have figured on Capaldi at least making Tennant-level money. BTW, there are rumors now that Kris Marshall might be on the radar to be the new companion. If that's the case, I almost wonder if the BBC missed a trick. They could have quietly started filming with Whittaker & Marshall and just not announced anything, letting everyone assume from any stray spy photos that Marshall was the Doctor, only to shock everyone with the truth in the regeneration in the Christmas Special. (Of course, given how spoiler-happy Facebook has been lately, I still wouldn't have been able to remain spoiler-free during the 24-hours it takes for the show to go from first airing on the BBC to being available on Amazon Prime. Several of my friends had the Season 10 finale spoiled for them after less than a day.)
Colin Baker just (politely) laying a verbal smackdown on all of the anti-female Doctor people is awesome.