Mark Williams: ‘I browsed tractor magazines with Robbie Coltrane on the set of Harry Potter’

The star of The Fast Show and Father Brown – as well as the original Arthur Weasley – on friendly death eaters, famous Brummies and Chinese trains What were the best and worst moments shooting the Harry Potter films? bumble1The worst part was being away from home and the long hours. The best bit was the work and talking to the other actors. I look back with great fondness on that. I remember saying to Alan Rickman that the collective noun for actors is an anecdote. Michael Gambon was the king of stories. He’d start a joke and you never knew where he was going. But he’d hone them; they were finely crafted – some of his best work was backstage. Richard Griffiths was also a great raconteur. His stories were brilliant, and completely unpublishable. Maggie [Smith] liked to be Maggie. I remember at one premiere I wore this blazer a friend had made for me and could see her glinting across the room. Then she bowled over and went: “Have you just been at Henley?” She was delighted with herself for that. With Robbie Coltrane I used to like going through Plant Trader, which was a sales magazine for big stuff: cranes, tractors, earthmoving equipment. We never purchased anything, b