The Arts Desk has a brand new interview with Dumbledore actor Michael Gambon where he discusses his career and mentions Harry Potter briefly.

Is Harry Potter a life sentence? No I like Harry Potter. I died in the sixth one.

How did you find out that you died? Erm, I think I read it in the paper. I read I’d died. It was such a shock. I thought, Jesus Christ.

Have you read the books? I just read the scripts. I know people read the whole book but then you get cross about what’s missing. A lot of actors get upset that their parts are a bit smaller.

To what extent did you have to inherit Richard Harris’s performance? No one ever spoke to me about it. Not a word. On the first film I did which was directed by Alfonso Cuaron I walked in there and I’m naturally Irish and my first accent is Irish, I will speak Irish with my parents, and I played just a slight touch of Trinity College Dublin. That light lilt. I did that and Alfonso said, “What’s the accent here?” I said, “Irish.” He said, “That’s OK.” And no one’s ever mentioned it. I’m a little bit more camp, I think, a bit lighter. A bit more ethereal.