Harry Potter fans can see inside boy wizard's childhood home for first time as part of Warner Brothers Studio Tour

Studio offers tour of No 4 Privet Drive, where Harry lived under stairs
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Ben Morgan10 May 2016

Harry Potter fans are finally getting the chance to step inside the boy wizard’s childhood home.

No 4 Privet Drive — where J K Rowling’s hero was forced to live with his hated relatives, the Dursleys — is being opened to the public for a limited time only.

For the first time, visitors to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour: The Making Of Harry Potter, in Leavesden, will be able to wander inside the Dursleys’ living room, complete with ugly sofas and family photographs on the mantelpiece in a faithful recreation of the set.

Fiona Shaw, who played Harry’s Aunt Petunia in the films, told the Standard: “Being back is like home sweet home. We spent a lot of time in this house — for about two weeks a year we would move in with Richard Griffiths, who is sadly no longer with us, and Harry Melling who played Dudley Dursley.

“Harry is one of the most talented actors of his generation and is now appearing at the West End.

“Richard would regale us with stories for hours. He was good at telling stories, a bit like Peter Ustinov. We had a ball here and it was a very witty group. We were almost separate from the film and our own little family.”

Privet invitation: the house, as seen in The Philosopher’s Stone

The Potter vaults have been opened to mark the 15th anniversary of the first film in the series, Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone. A key scene has been recreated at 4 Privet Drive, with hundreds of Hogwarts letters addressed to Harry — who lived at the house in a cupboard under the stairs — suspended in the air.

The studio will be revealing how the special effect was created for the scene in which scores of letters from the magical school pour through the front door and down the chimney, to the horror of Dudley, Petunia and Uncle Vernon, who was played by Griffiths.

Shaw, 57, who has won two Olivier awards and starred in HBO’s True Blood, said she is more frequently recognised for playing Petunia than any other role.

She said: “It’s a huge phenomenon and I cannot go anywhere in the world without being stopped... with Harry Potter it’s been 15 years and the original fans have all grown up. They now span generations.”

The Studio Tour will also showcase costumes for the Dursley family from the films, which have never been on display before.

Shaw added: “I think people have been waiting for so long to see inside the house and are only getting a two-week glimpse so they will be pleased to have this holiest of holy places opened up.”

The set is open to the public from May 27 for a limited time only. Visit wbstudiotour.co.uk

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