Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter ϟ Throwback

 

Potions Class at Hogwarts

There are some Hogwarts classrooms that you recognise immediately, and the Potions classroom is definitely one of them.

Hidden away in the dungeons, it's dark, slightly creepy and absolutely packed with things. Cauldrons cover the workbenches, shelves disappear beneath hundreds of bottles and jars, and almost every available surface seems to contain some mysterious ingredient or piece of equipment.

Basically, exactly what you would expect from a Hogwarts Potions lesson.

Seeing the actual set at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour was one of those moments where I wanted to stop and look at everything. There is so much going on that it's almost impossible to take it all in at once.

And, of course, you can't really look at the Potions classroom without immediately thinking of Professor Snape.

The black robes standing amongst all those bottles and cauldrons are instantly recognisable. Even without Alan Rickman actually standing there looking disappointed in everyone, the classroom still has that wonderfully intimidating Snape atmosphere.

The set also includes Professor Slughorn's costume, which makes such a contrast beside Snape's. It's another little reminder of just how much this particular classroom changed depending on who was standing at the front of it.

What I really loved, though, were all the tiny details.

The shelves are filled with bottle after bottle of potion ingredients. Some contain liquids, while others are packed with strange plants, roots and other things that I probably wouldn't want to identify too closely before lunch. From a distance they simply create the cluttered appearance of the classroom, but when you start looking at them individually, you realise just how many props were needed to fill the set.

Then there are the students' workbenches.

Cauldrons, scales, glass bottles, mortars and pestles, books and all the little pieces of equipment are laid out as though somebody has simply stepped away in the middle of a lesson. I especially loved being able to photograph some of these details up close. They are exactly the sort of things that disappear into the background when you're watching the films but make the set feel completely believable.

There was even an open copy of Advanced Potion-Making.

Of course, that immediately made me think of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry's suspiciously brilliant year in Potions thanks to a certain heavily annotated textbook.

Seeing things like this is probably my favourite part of the Studio Tour. The huge sets are incredible, but I'm equally fascinated by the things somebody could easily have decided didn't matter. A textbook still needed pages. Bottles still needed labels. Shelves still needed ingredients. A student's desk still needed to look as though somebody actually used it.

All those tiny details add up.

Standing in front of the Potions classroom, it doesn't look like somebody simply assembled a backdrop for a film.

It looks like generations of Hogwarts students have been sitting at those tables, chopping ingredients, stirring cauldrons and desperately hoping Professor Snape doesn't decide to inspect their potion next.

Although, having now seen the classroom in person, I think I've reached an important conclusion:

I'd absolutely want to study Potions at Hogwarts.

I just wouldn't particularly want Snape grading me.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter ϟ Throwback

 

Building Hogwarts: Portraits, Staircases & Secrets

One of the things I loved most about the Warner Bros. Studio Tour was getting to look beyond the big, instantly recognisable sets and notice all the smaller pieces that made Hogwarts feel like an actual castle. When you're watching the films, you don't really stop to think about how much had to be designed and built simply to create the background of a scene. At the Studio Tour, you finally get the chance to do exactly that.

The Hogwarts portraits were especially interesting. The walls of the castle are absolutely covered in them in the films, and seeing them together up close made me realise just how much work went into something that could so easily have been treated as simple background decoration.

Even better, many of the faces hiding inside those frames weren't random. Members of the Harry Potter production team were immortalised in Hogwarts too. The Portrait Wall display showed where some of them appeared, including producer David Heyman, production designer Stuart Craig, producer David Barron and prop master Barry Wilkinson. I love little details like this. It feels like a lovely way of quietly putting some of the people who created the wizarding world into the world itself.

And then there are the moving staircases.

They're such a familiar part of Hogwarts that I don't think I'd ever really considered what was physically there during filming and what was added later. At the Studio Tour, you can see part of the staircase itself alongside the portrait-covered walls. Some of the portrait spaces are green screens, allowing moving images to be added during post-production.

It's strange seeing the trick exposed and still finding it magical.

There were also some much bigger pieces scattered around the tour, including the enormous Hogwarts clock mechanism. This was one of those things that made me stop for a proper look because the scale and detail are incredible. There are so many parts of Hogwarts that appear on screen for only moments, yet someone still had to design them, build them and make them fit into the visual world of the castle.

The same goes for the statues and architectural details. I got a close-up of one of the huge winged boars, which is much more imposing when you're standing directly underneath it than it ever seems on screen.

And then there was something considerably less welcoming: the Chamber of Secrets door.

Seeing the enormous circular door in person was brilliant. The snakes spreading across it are so distinctive that you know exactly what you're looking at before you even read the information beside it. It's one of those props that immediately takes you back to a particular part of the films.

I think that's what I enjoyed so much about this section of the tour. Hogwarts isn't made believable by one enormous set. It's the accumulation of thousands of details — paintings in corridors, stone staircases, clocks, statues, doors and decorations that might only sit in the background for a few seconds.

When you watch Harry Potter, all of those things simply become Hogwarts.

Walking around the Studio Tour gives you the chance to separate them again and appreciate how much work went into every single piece.

And somehow, seeing how the magic was made doesn't ruin it at all.

It just makes Hogwarts even more impressive. 

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter ϟ Throwback

 

Stepping Into the Great Hall

And then you get to enter the Great Hall.

This is probably one of the first moments of the Studio Tour where it really hits you that you’re standing inside the world from the films. You walk through the enormous doors and suddenly the Great Hall is right there in front of you – the long house tables, the stone floor, the teachers’ table at the far end and costumes representing the different Hogwarts houses.

And this isn’t a recreation made for the tour. This is the actual Great Hall set.

It was one of the first sets built for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone back in 2000 and went on to become one of the most important and recognisable sets of the entire film series. It was used for everything from Hogwarts feasts and Sorting Ceremonies to the Yule Ball and the Battle of Hogwarts.

There are so many little details to look at once you’re inside. At the front of the hall is the teachers’ table, along with Dumbledore’s lectern, and behind it you can see the enormous House Points Counter filled with thousands upon thousands of tiny glass beads.

Even the floor beneath your feet is part of the original set. Rather than using something that only looked like stone, the filmmakers laid real York stone because the Great Hall needed to survive years of filming and hundreds of students walking across it.

One detail I particularly love is the house tables. They were deliberately aged for the films, but some of the graffiti carved into them came from the young actors themselves. Production designer Stuart Craig actually encouraged it because Hogwarts was supposed to be a real school – and what school tables survive generations of students without somebody carving something into them?

There is one thing missing when you look up, though: the enchanted ceiling.

The physical Great Hall obviously couldn't have an endless magical sky above it, so the enchanted ceiling we see in the films was created with visual effects. Even the famous floating candles eventually became a digital effect. Real suspended candles were originally tried during the first film, but the heat caused problems with the wires holding them up, so the filmmakers turned to visual effects instead.

It’s also strange seeing the Great Hall without hundreds of Hogwarts students filling the benches. It somehow feels both much bigger and much smaller than it does on screen.

But standing there, looking towards the teachers’ table and knowing how many iconic Harry Potter scenes were filmed in that exact room, is incredibly special.

For a few minutes, you really do get to feel like you’ve walked into Hogwarts.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter ϟ Throwback

 

The Studio Tour Begins

Once you’re inside, it doesn’t take long before you start seeing things you immediately recognise from the films. One of the things I love about the Studio Tour is that it isn’t really trying to feel like a theme park. It’s much more about stepping behind the scenes and seeing the actual sets, props, costumes and tiny details that went into creating the Harry Potter films.

And one of the first familiar sights is a particularly small cupboard.

The Cupboard Under the Stairs

Before you’ve even properly started the tour, you get to see the Cupboard Under the Stairs at Number Four, Privet Drive – Harry’s rather miserable little bedroom before Hogwarts came along and changed everything.

It’s such a simple set compared with some of the enormous things you’ll see later, but that almost makes it more special. It’s one of those instantly recognisable pieces of Harry Potter history: the tiny space beneath the stairs, filled with Harry’s belongings, where the story begins before he has any idea that he’s a wizard.

Seeing it in person also gives you a completely different appreciation for the amount of detail that went into the films. Things that only appear on screen for a relatively short amount of time were still carefully dressed and designed to make Harry’s world feel real.

Number Four, Privet Drive

Later in the Studio Tour, you get to see something even more familiar: Number Four, Privet Drive itself.

The exterior of the Dursleys’ house sits in the Backlot alongside several other iconic outdoor sets and props. After seeing Privet Drive so many times in the films, there’s something wonderfully strange about suddenly standing right in front of that very ordinary-looking suburban house.

And really, it’s the perfect Harry Potter location. The whole story begins in one of the least magical places imaginable – a painfully normal house on a painfully normal street, occupied by a family determined to pretend that magic doesn’t exist.

Then the Hogwarts letters start arriving.

Standing in front of Number Four is one of those moments where the films suddenly feel very tangible. You’re not looking at a replica inspired by Harry Potter. You’re surrounded by pieces of the filmmaking world that actually helped bring the story to life.

For something as ordinary as a little house on Privet Drive, it feels surprisingly magical.

 

Today was my first day with physical therapy. My trainer/physical therapist, Camilla, arrived at 11.00, and we sat and talked for a bit while she took notes. Lasse's mum was so kind as to join us and help out. Then we talked about getting me some help to make showering on my own easier, so she is going to contact one of her colleagues about that and get me a shower chair. We did these exercises, which I will be doing daily from now on, and then Camilla will adjust the exercises if needed. 

When we did the exercises, I was honestly surprised by how difficult it was. My mind and body aren't on the same page, because when I saw the exercises, I thought Easy! But it was quite difficult, and it actually took my breath away. 

We made a new appointment for next week, and now it is up to me to keep going with the exercises daily. She also suggested keeping a diary of my exercises, which, of course, I will. Any excuse to write in a notebook and make lists. 

♡

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter ϟ Throwback

 

There’s something ridiculously exciting about arriving at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter. You haven’t even stepped inside yet, but the moment you start seeing the signs for the Studio Tour, it suddenly feels real. After years of watching the films and knowing these were the studios where the Harry Potter series was actually made, you’re finally there.

If you’re driving, the whole arrival is really straightforward. There’s a large car park directly outside the Studio Tour and regular parking is included with your ticket, so there’s no additional parking fee to worry about. You do need to have your booking confirmation ready when you arrive, as it’s checked by the parking team before you’re allowed onto the site.

From the main car park, it’s only a short walk to the entrance. There is also Priority Parking right next to the entrance, which can be booked in advance for an additional fee, as well as designated accessible parking spaces close to the building.

And honestly, even the walk from the car park is part of the excitement.

The huge studio buildings aren’t exactly Hogwarts – you are very much arriving at a working film studio rather than a theme park – but seeing the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter sign across the front of the building gives you that immediate little oh my God, we’re here feeling.

Outside the entrance there are already things to stop and look at, take photos of and generally get far too excited about before you’ve even made it through the doors. It’s a nice introduction to what the Studio Tour actually is. This isn’t supposed to be a recreation of the Wizarding World somewhere else; you’re visiting the place where so much of it was originally created.

Happy September 1st! Back to Hogwarts!

 

For the next two weeks, the blog will be a bit Harry Potter-themed, due to it being September and we are celebrating going back to Hogwarts! I will share everything Harry Potter-related I can think of ϟ and I wish my fellow geeks a Happy Back to Hogwarts time!