Production starts on new Harry Potter TV series
HBO announced on Monday that further casting has also taken place, with young actor Rory Wilmot playing Harry's schoolfriend Neville Longbottom and Amos Kitson taking on the role of his cousin Dudley Dursley.
Meanwhile, Sherlock actress Louise Brealey is to play Hogwarts Quidditch coach Madam Rolanda Hooch, and Game Of Thrones star Anton Lesser will be wandmaker Garrick Ollivander.
Each season of the show will be a faithful adaptation of the Harry Potter books, from author and executive producer JK Rowling.
It follows the popular film adaptations that starred Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint as the protagonists.
Other stars who have previously been announced include award-winning US actor John Lithgow as Hogwarts headmaster Professor Albus Dumbledore, Welsh comedian and actor Paul Whitehouse as Hogwarts caretaker Argus Filch, and Rivals actress Katherine Parkinson as Molly Weasley.
The series is set to hit TV screens in 2027 on HBO and HBO Max.
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South Wales Guardian
27 minutes ago
- South Wales Guardian
Snoop Dogg officially becomes co-owner of Swansea City
The 53-year-old star, who hinted at investing in the club by helping promote the club's shirt launch earlier this week, has joined Croatian midfielder Luka Modric in linking up with the Swans. He said: 'My love of football is well known, but it feels special to me that I make my move into club ownership with Swansea City. He found the shirt that fits. @snoopdogg 🦢 — Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) July 17, 2025 'The story of the club and the area really struck a chord with me. This is a proud, working class city and club. An underdog that bites back, just like me. 'I'm proud to be part of Swansea City. I am going to do all I can to help the club.' On Sunday Snoop Dogg unveiled Swansea's new kit with the south Wales club taking a playful dig at Wrexham's Hollywood owner Ryan Reynolds. Deadpool actor Reynolds had responded to Wrexham's own kit launch by posting a picture of himself on Instagram wearing the latest shirt while holding a dog. Dogg included @SnoopDogg Nuthin' But A Wales Thang, the Jacks are ready. We're the Pride of Wales. @VancityReynolds @Wrexham_AFC #JackArmy 🐶⚔️🦢 — Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) July 12, 2025 Swansea reacted by turning to another famous 'canine' face for their kit unveiling ahead of the 2025-26 season, posting on X: 'Dogg included @SnoopDogg. 'Nuthin' But A Wales Thang, the Jacks are ready. We're the Pride of Wales.' Now the Swans have confirmed another high-profile owner has arrived in both Welsh football and, along with former American football star Tom Brady at Birmingham, in next season's Championship. The Swans said in a statement: 'Swansea City is delighted to announce global rap superstar and multi-platinum selling artist Snoop Dogg has become the club's latest high-profile co-owner and investor. 'The 53-year-old, who caused a social media sensation when he helped launch our 2025-26 home shirt on Saturday, comes on board a few months after Croatian football great Luka Modrić became part of Swansea City. 'Snoop is renowned as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, and has sold 35 million albums worldwide across a performing and recording career spanning more than 30 years. 'The Death Row Records owner has won countless awards and received 17 Grammy nominations. 'He has also always had a deep love of sport, and football in particular. At one point he was a brand ambassador for the FIFA video game series, and has been pictured wearing a variety of team jerseys over the years. 'Swansea's home kit may be the latest in that sequence, but Snoop's ties to the club will run deeper than the donning of the famous white shirt as he formally becomes a member of club ownership. 'And it is hoped his global profile and love of football can play an important part in helping us spread the Swansea City name as far and wide as possible in order to boost our commercial performance to further support our aspirations as a club.' The club say they have unveiled a mural of Snoop Dogg on the stadium's West Stand. Chief executive Tom Gorringe said: 'It is very exciting for us as a football club to formally welcome Snoop Dogg as a co-owner and investor into Swansea City. 'His enjoyment and love of football is well documented and he has often spoken of a desire to get more involved in the sport. We are delighted he believes that being part of Swansea City is the right way to realise that ambition. 'Dogg is passionate about this project and helping us continue to raise the profile of the club to as wide an audience as possible.'
Times
34 minutes ago
- Times
Iris Williams obituary: Welsh singer compared to Shirley Bassey
In the pantheon of celebrated Welsh female singers, comparisons between Iris Williams and Shirley Bassey were inevitable. Born barely a dozen miles apart in south Wales, both were mixed race, born to white mothers and black fathers, and their chosen career paths followed similar courses. Both possessed big, rich voices and a classy stage elan that stood out on the club circuit at a time when black or mixed-race British singers were a rarity. Both recorded Cleo Laine and Johnny Dankworth's He Was Beautiful, although it was Williams's version that was the Top 20 hit. Popular at royal command performances, both were recognised in the honours list, Bassey first as CBE and then as a Dame, and Williams, who in 2004 was appointed OBE. Yet much as Williams admired Bassey, she found the constant comparisons irritating. 'We're both dark-skinned and come from the Cardiff area but it ends there for me and my style is completely different,' she insisted. 'She is a great singer, with a wonderful voice, but I hate being compared to her and have tried everything to rid myself of it. I want to be me.' Certainly, there were differences as well as the obvious similarities. In Williams's own words she was not as 'gregarious' as Bassey, less inclined towards 'the big belter numbers' and in the view of many her singing boasted a greater emotional depth. 'I don't use half of the voice that she does because I don't need to — as I see it, I am telling a story,' she noted. Yet when she chose to let rip there was no doubting the strength, power and sheer vivacity of her delivery. Terry Wogan, who championed her on his radio shows, was a particular fan of the creamy resonance of what he called her 'basso profundo'. Her singing took her from the factory floor to the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and then into the charts and to her own BBC series. She later moved to the United States but remained proud of her Welsh heritage. Alongside Bassey, Tom Jones and a 13-year-old Charlotte Church, she sang at a concert to mark the opening of the Welsh National Assembly in 1999 in front of an audience that included Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and the future King Charles. 'Wales will always be my great passion,' she said. When she was the subject of a 2002 documentary film on Welsh TV, she gamely insisted on being interviewed in Welsh. She had learnt Welsh as a child but had barely spoken the language in decades and 'brushed up' by practising on her dog Mimi. She was subsequently admitted to the Gorsedd of Bards at the National Eisteddfod of Wales. Her two marriages, to Clive Brandy and Edward Jones, both of whom served as her manager, ended in divorce. 'A lot of female singers make the mistake of making their husband their manager,' she said. 'It generally doesn't work because you should be able to go home and leave work behind. When you're married to your manager all you do is talk showbusiness.' She is survived by her son Blake from her first marriage. She was born in 1946 in Rhydyfelin, near Potypridd, in south Wales, the illegitimate daughter of an African-American GI who was stationed in Britain during the Second World War and who met her mother — who was already married — in a local dance hall. A romance blossomed but the taboo-breaking relationship was doomed and the daughter who resulted was given up for adoption. Williams spent her first five years in a children's home until she was fostered by Bronwen Llewellyn, a miner's wife from Tonyrefail, who encouraged her to sing. She was subsequently reunited with her birth mother and a half-brother in the mid-1980s after she found them via an advert placed in a local newspaper. Growing up as the only black child in her village was 'a bit of a problem', but she argued that the prejudice made her tougher, which served as an asset as she began to 'mingle into the world'. On leaving school she worked in a glove factory in Llantrisant, and when it closed and she found herself without an income her former piano teacher put her name forward for a scholarship at the Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff. She won a place and after appearing on the Welsh BBC pop music TV show Disc A Dawn, she had a hit in the country of her birth in 1971 with Pererin Wyf, a Welsh-language version of Amazing Grace. Three years later she won the annual Cân i Gymru (A Song for Wales) competition. Her breakthrough outside Wales came in 1979 when she had a Top 20 UK hit with He Was Beautiful, a song based on the theme from the film The Deer Hunter. During the 1980s she ran a pub near Ascot named The Pheasant Plucker with her first husband while continuing to appear on the nightclub circuit. By the early 1990s she had moved to New York, where she appeared in concert with Bob Hope and Rosemary Clooney. She also sang at gala benefits for the clinics started by Betty Ford, whose husband, the former US president Gerald Ford, helped her to access classified files to find her birth father. By the time she discovered his identity he was already dead and she did not contact his family. Suspecting that they did not know of her existence, she had no wish to cause any posthumous upset. In later years she was a popular entertainer on cruise ships, singing jazz standards and show tunes and joking with audiences that Bassey, who was a decade older, was her 'younger sister'. Iris Williams, singer, was born on April 20, 1946. She died of undisclosed causes on July 9, 2025, aged 79
Top Gear
an hour ago
- Top Gear
Dobby the house elf attends speed awareness course
Dobby the house elf attends speed awareness course Yet another Harry Potter star flouts the speed limit Skip 1 photos in the image carousel and continue reading Turn on Javascript to see all the available pictures. Here's roving correspondent, Cory Spondent, with his mostly incorrect exclusives from the world of motoring Dobby the house elf has attended a speed awareness course in Cambridge, becoming the third Harry Potter star to be penalised for speeding this week. Advertisement - Page continues below The magical creature – who retired from acting after his final screen appearance in Deathly Hallows: Part 1 – was clocked doing 25mph in a 20mph zone in a BMW XM last month. 'Dobby is very sorry for what he did,' said the elf. 'Dobby was driving master's car to the detailing shop but Dobby didn't see the speed limit had changed. 'Dobby would've been ashamed with three points on his licence, and master says Dobby is no good to him if his insurance costs go up at renewal. 'So Dobby has taken the speed awareness course, and most enlightening it was. And Dobby has punished himself at home as well by staring at the car for three hours without blinking. Advertisement - Page continues below 'Dobby is a bad elf.' The local police force refused to comment on the case, but released a statement saying: 'An IC1 male elf was caught speeding by a mobile camera six weeks ago. 'When officers stopped the vehicle, the situation escalated when the driver threw a pair of fake Ray Bans at one officer and launched a barrage of expletives at the other, bellowing 'Don't you know who I am?!' and 'You're just a muggle with a GCSE in PE.' 'We would have suggested he take the Knight Bus, but Ernie pranged it last week." Top Gear Newsletter Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox. Success Your Email*
