Harry Potter Star Robbie Coltrane Blasts Sex Fiend Celebrites Ahead Of New TV Role

Actor Robbie Coltrane has had a long and distinguished career, but Scotsman Coltrane is perhaps best known for his role as Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies. Coltrane was an ever present through all eight of the movie adaptations of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books. As Hagrid, Robbie kept a watchful eye on the young Harry Potter and the other students at Hogwarts school, and it seems that Coltrane has extended that watching brief into both real life and his latest TV role.

According to the Express, Coltrane is swapping “his role as Hagrid the gentle giant from the Harry Potter films for the lead part in a drama about historic sex abuse cases involving television celebrities.” Coltrane plays fictional celebrity Paul Finchley in a new Channel 4 drama called National Treasure, which is to be screened later this month. Coltrane’s character is accused of historical sex abuse, and the drama explores the impact on his life and the life of his family, including his deeply religious wife, played by another Harry Potter veteran, Julie Walters.

BBC News – Robbie Coltrane 'appalled' by #historical #sexabuse https://t.co/eS51JeqIqJ

— Vicki Price (@VickiWinstonLLP) September 5, 2016

Coltrane’s screen wife in the drama has tolerated his extra-marital affairs for many years, but her world is torn apart by the allegations made against her husband. In another Harry Potter link, the drama was written by Jack Thorne, who collaborated with J.K. Rowling on the new theatre production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Coltrane’s role may be fictional, but it is believed to have been inspired by the Jimmy Savile affair. Savile was portrayed as a “national treasure” for his charitable fund-raising and despite years of rumors suggesting that he was a sexual predator and child abuser the full extent of his crimes was only exposed after his death. The writer explains that his writing was prompted by the Savile case.

“Everything in a way flowed from Savile. What fascinated me was for how long society venerated this monster and how he got away with it under the gaze of the public eye.”

Asked about his decision to play a role in what will be an emotionally charged drama Coltrane said that he was undaunted once he read the script. The BBC revealed that Robbie went on to explain that he has been “appalled” by the avalanche of allegations against high-profile celebrities since the Savile story broke.

“Coltrane says ‘every day another story [comes out], and I think it appals all of us. Appearing in the series was an important thing to do.’

“The power of drama is you can deal with these things in a way that the judiciary, the police and Parliament can’t, or seem unable to.”

According to the Mirror, Coltrane never actually met Jimmy Savile, but Robbie made his views on Savile absolutely clear claiming that he was clear that Savile was “up to no good.”

“I always thought Savile was a creepy wee s*** bag. You could tell couldn’t you? I didn’t hear any rumors about Savile. I just instinctively thought, ‘This guy’s a creep’.”

According to the Daily Record, Coltrane was typically forthright when asked about his role in National Treasure insisting that the controversial subject matter isn’t about creating entertainment from people’s misery and suffering.

“I believe with all my soul that it’s the job of drama to deal with things that the judiciary’s not very good at, the police aren’t very good at, the politicians aren’t very good at, the civil service aren’t very good at.

“A lot of people asked about Cracker, ‘why would you want to make an entertaining show about people getting murdered.’ It’s not about entertainment, it’s about finding out how people get like that. That’s what the whole show is about.”

Despite his role giving Coltrane an insight into the havoc media intrusion creates when a celebrity is accused of sex crimes, he supports such investigations remaining public knowledge as it will encourage more survivors of abuse to come forward. In his role, Coltrane sees his character’s whole life “fall off a cliff, whether he did it or not. I think they capture that wonderfully.”

Robbie Coltrane is sure to take us on an emotional roller coaster during this latest venture. Robbie did not reveal whether or not his character was guilty of historical abuse or not so you can be sure that Coltrane’s character will keep us guessing until the very end.

[Photo by Joel Ryan/AP Photo]