Mischief managed.
James and Oliver Phelps, who starred in the “Harry Potter” movies as the iconic troublemaking twins, Fred and George Weasley, host a new Food Network show called “Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking.”
“Baking shows are always on in both our households,” Oliver told The Post.
James agreed. “My wife loves them. When we were first approached to do the show, I was very excited. This was something Oliver and I have always wanted to do, hosting in general… we knew it would be high-standard work. The bakers are the best of the best.”
The twins, 38, who were in all eight “Harry Potter” films between 2001-2011, are both married and live in London. They cited “The Great British Bake Off” and “Christmas Cookie Challenge” as shows they often watch.
Premiering on Thursday, Nov. 14 at 8 p.m. on Food Network (and streaming on Max), “Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking” follows nine teams of bakers as they compete to make Harry Potter-inspired culinary creations, all on the sets where the original movies were filmed.
The public can tour the sets, and “it still gets about 7 thousand people a day traveling through it, we had to film at night on these sets,” said Oliver.
“I remember just standing in the Great Hall, thinking, ‘we could have finished filming yesterday.’ almost like the years in between never happened. It’s like jumping into a time warp.”
James added that since a lot of the bakers were big fans of Harry Potter, they asked the twins for stories.
“I kind of felt like the old man in the corner of the bar, like ‘let me tell you, when I was a lad…’” he joked.
“It was cool going back to where we had great memories, and being able to share it with these people.”
While the Phelps twins host the show, chefs Carla Hall and Jozef Youssef act as judges while other former “Harry Potter” stars like Bonnie Wright and Evanna Lynch make guest appearances.
The twins said they see their former castmates on a regular basis.
“Even going to see our local soccer team play, Alfie Enoch is a big fan as well, so we’ll go together,” said Oliver.
James added, “Tom Felton and I play golf every so often, there’s quite an ongoing rivalry with that. And the last time we were in New York, I met up with Dan [Radcliffe] for a coffee. It’s like friends from high school or college. You may not see each other all the time, but you’re gonna meet up if you can, if you’re in the same area.”
The Phelps twins shared that their favorite piece of Potter swag is Lego sets that make Fred and George into Lego men.
Oliver said his oldest daughter is 7, and while he built the Lego sets with her, he has yet to read her the books or show her the movies, but he plans to.
“Many of her classmates are really into it already. She had a new girl start this term and it was her birthday, so I took her along, not knowing it was a Harry Potter themed birthday. None of the other parents had told these new parents that I was in [the movies],” he added.
“So I walked in and…I think the people who work at this restaurant thought they had brought me in to do something. It was a really awkward moment,” he said, laughing.
“It’s sweet though, that these guys who were not even born when the final film came out were really into it.”
HBO also has a “Harry Potter” TV show in the works.
On whether they’ll watch it, James said, “I dunno, it would be a bit odd, I think, because we’d be like, ‘So, who’s that guy? That’s not Harry!’”
He added, “It’s definitely something we’d have to come across and watch the entire thing. But, at the same time, I’m sure it would be like everything that Potter puts their hands to, they do it with such precision and such high quality. So, I’m sure it will be to a high standard.”
“Whoever is in it, as long as they have fun, that’s the main thing,” James said.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
