I spoke to Damian and Kevin because they both worked with NBC. I said, “Tell me the truth, how do they treat you.” They told me it’s tough, the scheduling is punishing. You have to really fight for creativity because you’re actually spending most of your life learning lines…”

Nevertheless, the task Draco has been charged with is so terrible and so risky that his mother, Narcissa Malfoy, risks the wrath of the Dark Lord by going to the home of Severus Snape to ask him to help her son complete it. Helen McCrory, who plays the part of the aristocratic Malfoy matriarch, relates, “Draco has been asked to fulfill an incredibly dangerous task, and she does not think he is capable of doing it. Therefore, she betrays what she believes is a true cause in order to secure her son’s safety. She’s desperate. In that moment, I think she must be secretly furious with Voldemort—it’s one thing to ask for your loyalty, but it’s another thing to ask for your child’s life. Narcissa may be a baddie, but she is a good mother.”

Helen McCrory is, without doubt, one of Britain’s most powerful acting talents. Her acting range seems boundless. Helen has a very rare combination of personal qualities that she brings to her acting—she is confident and assertive but also has a huge amount of compassion, which allows her to lace her characters with a sense of vulnerability as well as strength.