The inspiring true story behind The Boy Who Lived
Brand new Sky documentary, The Boy Who Lived tells the inspiring story of David Holmes, a Harry Potter stunt double that was left with a debilitating spinal injury after a tragic incident on the penultimate film.
Over the ten years that David Holmes and Daniel Radcliffe worked together, the two formed an inextricable bond which is showcased in the documentary that Radcliffe helped to produce.
To find out more about David's story of resilience since the life changing accident, we went along to The Boy Who Lived premiere to catch up with David himself and some of the Harry Potter cast.
Speaking at the premiere, David said: "It takes a village to survive a spinal cord injury and with thanks to the NHS, my family and my friends, everyone in my life who contributes, I’m here now and I’m smiling. I’m very fortunate."
He added: "In the world you can either see things as a positive or a negative and I always aim to see things through a positive."
Director of the documentary, Dan Hartley said: "Dave shies away from the word ‘inspiration’ and I understand his reasons why.
He’s living his best life despite really adverse conditions but he is incredibly positive and there’s something about that strength and will that he shows that we’ve been able to capture in the film."
Harry Potter legend Oliver Phelps who plays George Weasley attended the opening screening, paying tribute to the hard work of stunt doubles like David. He said: "Playing Fred and George, I think the most dangerous stunts that we got to do was when we teleported from a portkey and we fell from the sky - that was all on a harness but then someone else took over and did the real throwing about sort of stuff.
When you see what they’re doing, you really appreciate the danger they put themselves in front of."
He added: "Obviously the memory of what happened many years ago is something that I remember so it's going to be really interesting to see it again. And it's a journey of which many of us don't understand what happened behind the scenes. Obviously David being a good friend, we're all here to support him."
And whilst the uplifting triumph of David Holmes is celebrated in this brand new documentary, we couldn't resist asking Natalia Tena, who plays Nymphadora Tonks, what she thinks about the Harry Potter TV series and if she'll be involved!
The Boy Who Lived is available on demand on Sky Documentaries and streaming service NOW.