Harry Melling, who played Dudley Dursley in the Potter films, was interviewed by The Daily Mail and he discussed his dramatic weight loss since completing filming for Potter. He is currently in a new play, The Hothouse, by Harold Pinter which is running on the West End until August 3rd.

Although his weight always fluctuated it was when he was 15 and playing a fat old man in a play at the National Youth Theatre that he decided to lose it for good. ‘I was fat because I got bored easily and when I was bored I would eat,’ he says.

‘I was an active kid, I used to dance – yes, really – and I was sporty. But I liked eating. It was when I was playing this old fat dad I realised I didn’t want play those roles for the rest of my life. So I started running; I suppose you could say it was a Forrest Gump moment, I just didn’t stop.

I also started eating healthily and going to the gym.’ Now, apart from at Harry Potter events, he walks about largely unrecognised and couldn’t be happier. ‘It’s a godsend,’ he sighs. ‘No one recognises me on the Tube.’

He briefly mentioned his on-screen father, Richard Griffiths in the interview. Fans will recall that Richard passed away after a surgery a couple months ago. ‘It’s so sad he’s gone,’ Harry says quietly. ‘The thing I remember most about him was he never stopped talking; he could talk for England. He was a tremendous man – and he was someone who didn’t want “fat roles”, just good roles.’