BILLIE PIPER - PIPER ACCUSED OF PLAYING DOWN ROOTS

PIPER ACCUSED OF PLAYING DOWN ROOTS

British actress BILLIE PIPER has been accused of covering up her humble roots with the upper class accent used by her actor boyfriend LAURENCE FOX. The former DOCTOR WHO star has started to pay more attention to her elocution since she began dating 28-year-old Fox, who appears alongside her in new London play TREATS, last month (DEC06). An old friend from Piper's school days at London's Sylvia Young Theatre School says, "Although she can speak in perfect received pronunciation, she never used to speak like that when she wasn't acting. "She is a builder's daughter from Swindon but when I saw her being interviewed on TV this week, she sounded as if she had just stepped off a lacrosse pitch."