Izzy Wizzy Let's Get Busy

So last weekend we went to Dr Who, which you saw in the last post. The week before that we went to the giant exhibition over at Leavesden Studios, just north of London, all about one of the silver screen's greatest wizard. One who stands along side the greats like Gandalf the White, Merlin and Raistlin... defeated the greatest literary evil and grew up in a cupboard.

That's right isn't it?  Oh wait, no. Harry Potter. We went to see Harry Potter. I did wonder why we didn't get to see Sweep or Sue anywhere in the puppets section!

The Harry Potter Experience may well be bank breaking, but if you get an early enough slot, it is well worth going. The tour takes you through lots of the sets, like the Great Hall (which is a lot smaller than you think from the films), the Potions classroom and the dorm rooms. Scattered through these sets are countless video interviews with cast and crew explaining some of the props and different departments.

Once you're finished with the interior sets you get the chance to stop for a butter beer (very nice!) before proceeding to some external sets, including the Knight Bus and the giant chess set. Auntie enjoyed the Butter Beer too.

After the outside area you go back indoors to the Creature workshop and all the design areas. This sparked a bout of "Why did no-one tell me this was a job at school?!" from a few of us as we went through the prosthetics, monster workshop and draftsman sections.