Harry Potter Alumni Round-Up: Doctor Who, Pettigrew & Graham Norton

Feb 03, 2017

Posted by: Emma Pocock

HP Cast, News, Radcliffe, Spall, Tennant

The past month has seen various exciting announcements from Potter alumni, from Dan Radcliffe’s West End return to Peter Capaldi endorsing Frances de la Tour (Madam Maxime) as the next Doctor. We’ve had the final trailer for Emma Watson’s Beauty and the Beast, and our first look at Helena Bonham Carter in a female-led Oceans 8, and the excitement doesn’t end there!

Timothy Spall – who features as marauding Animagus and the Dark Lord’s accomplice Peter Pettigrew in Harry Potter – stars in the extended trailer for The Journey.

A political movie how about sworn enemies Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness became known as ‘the Chuckle Brothers’, The Journey is directed by Nick Hamm, written by Colin Bateman and distributed by Greenroom Entertainment and Tempo Productions. Take a look at the trailer below:

Spall also stars in the first clip from The Party, which director Sally Potter describes as “a comedy, albeit wrapped around some tragic elements”. A summary from Variety is as follows:

“The story centers on a gathering at the London townhouse of a married couple, Bill (Spall), an academic, and Janet (Scott Thomas), a politician, who has just been promoted to the top tier of her party. “[Bill] has given up some opportunities in his working life in order to support hers,” Potter explains. “And with that decision come some disappointments, some frustrations.”

With five other guests (and one significant absentee), the set-up recalls such classics as Mike Nichols’ adaptation of Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and Luis Bunuel’s “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.” “Each of these people hold secrets. Things that have been hidden come out in a sequence of revelations in a somewhat catastrophic way,” says Potter, “which all makes it sound rather bleak and heavy, but, in fact, this is a comedy, albeit wrapped around some tragic elements.””

The movie aims to present the political sphere through private encounters and universal human interactions with “power, love, desire, betrayal, longing, disappointment, and so on”.

Check out the trailer  below. Spall recently attended the red carpet premiere of Denialin which he stars as famous Holocaust-denier, David Irving. He also won the Edgeware Outstanding Achievement Award at the UK Film Festival in London in December for Stanley – A Man of Variety.

David Tennant recently wrapped up his feelings on the end of Season 3 of Broadchurch, which he says ends on ‘the perfect note’. Yesterday Tennant joined Doctor Who’s Peter Capaldi – who will be leaving the show after the coming season – in announcing his bargaining chip for who could be the next Doctor.

Broadchurch was created by Chris Chinball, who is taking over the writing table of Doctor Who after next year. Speculation surrounding Tennant’s Broadchurch costar Olivia Coleman prompted Tennant to put in his opinion on how she’d fare in his previous role:

“If the two of them [Colman and Chibnall] have been having top secret discussions behind my back, I will be furious! Olivia would clearly be a magnificent choice.”

The role of the Doctor has historically been portrayed by a man, but Tennant says the calls for more diverse Time Lords aren’t unreasonable:

 “If the story was right, then why not? […] If you have the right people telling the right stories, then it’s absolutely a possibility.”

You, Me and Him, a rom-com starring Tennant, is set to preview at Berlin Film Festival next month.

Daniel Radcliffe has also been announced in the February 17th line-up for the Graham Norton Show, alongside co-star Josh McGuire to promote Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Read more here.

We can’t wait to see Radcliffe on the Graham Norton Show and thoroughly enjoyed the trailers for Spall’s latest roles. We look forward to seeing if Capaldi or Tennant’s predictions come true – who would you love to see as the next Doctor? Emma Watson was a fan favourite pre-Capaldi and our enthusiasm for that fantastic idea still stands!





The Leaky Cauldron is not associated with J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., or any of the individuals or companies associated with producing and publishing Harry Potter books and films.