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| The Guardian - Culture: TV & Radio | | | | Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts review – perilously close to emetic | | by Lucy Mangan Jan 1, 2022 | | The boy wizard is back! And what a slick, heartfelt rush of nostalgia this reunion is, with secrets spilled and crushes revealed – but there’s also a conspicuous absence at its heart The John Williams score plays (with added bells for the festive season), the camera soars above an ersatz Victorian street, wax-sealed letters appear – and just like that, anyone who came of reading or viewing age from 1997 onwards is home. The Harry Potter reunion special Return to Hogwarts, marking 20 years since the first film adaptation of JK Rowling’s gamechanging and multi-multi-million-selling fantasy series about the boy wizard was released, hews as closely to the original’s aesthetic as possible from the off. Chats among the three main stars, Daniel Radcliffe (Harry himself), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), take place in the Gryffindor common room, there’s an opening set piece in the Hogwarts dining hall, Radcliffe and director of the first two films, Chris Columbus, talk in Dumbledore’s office and so on. It provides a rush of nostalgia only heightened as the enduring affection among them all becomes evident. There is much – rising perilously if perhaps inevitably close to emetic levels – of the cast and crew being like a family. There always is in programmes like this, but at least here it is more than usually justified. The actors famously began working on the franchise when they were children, and their audience grew up alongside them pretty much in real time as the films were released between 2001 and 2011. Continue reading... | | | | | Jamie-Lee O'Donnell: 'We've been able to show the world the real Derry' | | by Michael Segalov Jan 1, 2022 | | With a starring role as a prison warder in Screw, the actor is also soon to wave goodbye to playing a genuine sitcom sensation, Derry Girls’s Michelle. She reflects on her long climb to overnight success, and what happens next In a park opposite Belfast’s Saint Anne’s Cathedral, Jamie-Lee O’Donnell is being photographed. It is a small, unassuming shoot; she has only popped outside briefly, catching a short spurt of sunshine on an otherwise gloomy Saturday. Yet within minutes, passersby are stopping on surrounding streets: murmurs of excitement, fingers pointing. A steady stream of selfie-hungry teenage girls muster up the courage to edge closer. “Oh feck,” I hear from behind me, “that’s Michelle from Derry Girls!” Now filming its third and final series, Derry Girls has proved popular beyond all expectations. Critical acclaim was matched by nationwide public adoration: the show was Channel 4’s biggest new comedy in five years. And in Northern Ireland, the joyful sitcom set in 1990s Derry is a fully fledged sensation; the most watched series in the country since modern records began. Overnight, its lead actors were elevated to national treasure status. En route to meet O’Donnell, I had mentioned the purpose of my visit to my stoic, middle-aged taxi driver and he immediately turned giddy. Later, a mix-up over permissions to take pictures inside the gallery where we’re meeting was quickly resolved: one of the Derry Girls, is it? No bother, carry on. Continue reading... | | | | | |
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