The Harry Potter actor whose very famous dad was the first ever Doctor Who companion

The Harry Potter actor whose very famous dad was the first ever Doctor Who companion

When the world’s of Harry Potter and Doctor Who collide you can be sure to find an incredible cocktail of fantasy and science fiction fan mania.

Both these forces of nature have some of most staunch and committed fans in the galaxy, and there are some incredible similarities between the two global phenomena’s – whether fans like to admit or not.

Firstly both the Doctor Who and Harry Potter universes centre around one exceptional leading protagonist who is spectacularly gifted in many ways but fundamentally flawed.

READ MORE: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix star whose grandad you probably never realised was Doctor Who

While Doctor Who has his sonic screwdriver, Harry Potter has his magic wand, and both characters operate in complex worlds full of aliens, creatures and monsters.

Both stories also create unbounded environments where anything is possible and if there is a chance of something bad happening then it probably will.

With such similar paths it is perhaps no surprise that in strange twists of fate some of the actors who appeared in Harry Potter films have relations that appeared in Doctor Who many years before.

One such example is Dudley Dursley, Harry’s cousin who is played by Harry Melling. Harry was only 12 when Order of the Phoenix was filmed – but now he’s 32.

And there is an even closer family connection between two Doctor Who and Harry Potter actors who each appeared in their respective franchises decades apart

How to Get Away with Murder star Alfred Enoch played the role of all round good egg and Gryffindor “half-blood” Dean Thomas, a character which spans all the Harry Potter books.

Alfred’s father William Russell also had an incredible acting career which included roles in Coronation Street, Heartbeat and Casualty.

However his major break came in 1956 when he took the title role in the television series The Adventures of Sir Lancelot on ITV.

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