8pm Wednesday HARRY POTTER: A HISTORY OF MAGIC - Documentary - In the run-up to the exhibition Harry Potter: A History of Magic, JK Rowling visits the British Library and reveals the real-life counterparts to her fantastical world.
It is 20 years since JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone first cast its spell on readers across the globe. But Rowling's fantastical creation wasn't entirely make-believe.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first Harry Potter book, this documentary visits the real-life magical history behind J.K. Rowling’s beloved classics. With footage from the British Library’s exhibition and exclusive access to a priceless collection of artifacts, take a tour around the mesmerizing journey creating this global phenomenon. Includes interviews with J.K. Rowling herself as she examines the most exciting items on display and opens her private archive to reveal drawings and drafts that have been hidden away for years.
From shrieking mandrakes and Elizabethan invisibility spells to the mystery of ancient Chinese oracle bones and the real life search for the Philosopher's Stone, it is the start of a warm, playful and inventive journey round some of the most magical places in the land - from wizarding wandmakers in the English forest to the beguiling witchcraft of Boscastle, Cornwall.
The film features readings by actors from the Harry Potter films, including David Thewlis, Evanna Lynch, Warwick Davis, Miriam Margolyes and Mark Williams, while Rowling's illustrator Jim Kay illuminates her imaginary world. Narrated by Imelda Staunton.
