diff --git a/src/Nancy.Tests.Functional/Tests/JsonpTests.cs b/src/Nancy.Tests.Functional/Tests/JsonpTests.cs
index 71e1aca1b5..5ded177276 100644
--- a/src/Nancy.Tests.Functional/Tests/JsonpTests.cs
+++ b/src/Nancy.Tests.Functional/Tests/JsonpTests.cs
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ public void Ensure_that_Jsonp_hook_does_not_affect_a_normal_json_response()
 
             Assert.Equal(HttpStatusCode.OK, result.StatusCode);
             Assert.Equal("true", result.Body.AsString());
-            Assert.Equal("application/json", result.Context.Response.ContentType);
+            Assert.Equal("application/json; charset=utf8", result.Context.Response.ContentType);
         }
 
         [Fact]
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ public void Ensure_that_Jsonp_hook_should_pad_a_json_response_when_callback_is_p
 
             Assert.Equal(HttpStatusCode.OK, result.StatusCode);
             Assert.Equal("myCallback(true);", result.Body.AsString());
-            Assert.Equal("application/javascript", result.Context.Response.ContentType);
+            Assert.Equal("application/javascript; charset=utf8", result.Context.Response.ContentType);
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/Nancy.Tests/Unit/JsonFormatterExtensionsFixtures.cs b/src/Nancy.Tests/Unit/JsonFormatterExtensionsFixtures.cs
index 8daa0f1a39..63a8a78c0b 100644
--- a/src/Nancy.Tests/Unit/JsonFormatterExtensionsFixtures.cs
+++ b/src/Nancy.Tests/Unit/JsonFormatterExtensionsFixtures.cs
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 namespace Nancy.Tests.Unit
 {
-    using System;
     using System.IO;
     using System.Text;
     using FakeItEasy;
+
     using Nancy.Responses;
     using Nancy.Tests.Fakes;
     using Xunit;
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ public JsonFormatterExtensionsFixtures()
         [Fact]
         public void Should_return_a_response_with_the_standard_json_content_type()
         {
-            response.ContentType.ShouldEqual("application/json");
+            response.ContentType.ShouldEqual("application/json; charset=utf8");
         }
 
         [Fact]
diff --git a/src/Nancy/Json/JsonSettings.cs b/src/Nancy/Json/JsonSettings.cs
index 2859c8adc8..f9686e74fe 100644
--- a/src/Nancy/Json/JsonSettings.cs
+++ b/src/Nancy/Json/JsonSettings.cs
@@ -18,12 +18,18 @@ public static class JsonSettings
         /// </summary>
         public static int MaxRecursions { get; set; }
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Default charset for json responses.
+        /// </summary>
+        public static string DefaultCharset { get; set; }
+
         public static IList<JavaScriptConverter> Converters { get; set; }
 
         static JsonSettings()
         {
             MaxJsonLength = 102400;
             MaxRecursions = 100;
+            DefaultCharset = "utf8";
             Converters = new List<JavaScriptConverter>
                              {
                                  new TimeSpanConverter(),
diff --git a/src/Nancy/Jsonp.cs b/src/Nancy/Jsonp.cs
index 3cce184508..2564859863 100644
--- a/src/Nancy/Jsonp.cs
+++ b/src/Nancy/Jsonp.cs
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
-using System;
-using System.Collections.Generic;
-using System.Linq;
-using System.Text;
-using Nancy.Bootstrapper;
-using System.IO;
-
-namespace Nancy
+namespace Nancy
 {
+    using System;
+    using System.IO;
+    using System.Linq;
+
+    using Nancy.Json;
+    using Nancy.Bootstrapper;
+
     public static class Jsonp
     {
         static PipelineItem<Action<NancyContext>> JsonpItem;
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ private static void PrepareJsonp(NancyContext context)
 
                 // set content type to application/javascript so browsers can handle it by default
                 // http://stackoverflow.com/questions/111302/best-content-type-to-serve-jsonp
-                context.Response.ContentType = "application/javascript";
+                context.Response.ContentType = "application/javascript" + (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(JsonSettings.DefaultCharset) ? "" : "; charset=" + JsonSettings.DefaultCharset);
                 context.Response.Contents = stream =>
                 {
                     // disposing of stream is handled elsewhere
diff --git a/src/Nancy/Responses/JsonResponse.cs b/src/Nancy/Responses/JsonResponse.cs
index bb6a603e32..99d8802e40 100644
--- a/src/Nancy/Responses/JsonResponse.cs
+++ b/src/Nancy/Responses/JsonResponse.cs
@@ -6,6 +6,14 @@
 
     public class JsonResponse<TModel> : Response
     {
+        private static string contentType
+        {
+            get
+            {
+                return "application/json" + (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(JsonSettings.DefaultCharset) ? "" : "; charset=" + JsonSettings.DefaultCharset);
+            }
+        }
+
         public JsonResponse(TModel model, ISerializer serializer)
         {
             if (serializer == null)
@@ -14,13 +22,13 @@ public JsonResponse(TModel model, ISerializer serializer)
             }
 
             this.Contents = GetJsonContents(model, serializer);
-            this.ContentType = "application/json";
+            this.ContentType = contentType;
             this.StatusCode = HttpStatusCode.OK;
         }
-     
+
         private static Action<Stream> GetJsonContents(TModel model, ISerializer serializer)
         {
-            return stream => serializer.Serialize("application/json", model, stream);
+            return stream => serializer.Serialize(contentType, model, stream);
         }
     }