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I get it. Adaptations are hard. Turning a hit book into a movie is tricky, especially when the books in question — in this case, the "Harry Potter" series — are very, very long. The longest "Potter" book, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," contains a whopping 870 pages in its US hardcover edition, so obviously not every single detail is bound to make it during the adaptation process. Still, the "Harry Potter" film franchise, which spanned eight movies, left a lot behind, and some of it is pretty important!

There are actually a whole bunch of "Harry Potter" plotlines and characters that didn't make it from the books to the movies, but here I'm going to try and note some of the most important ones.

As Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) learn magic at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, they meet a lot of people.

Throw away your buckets and spades people, it’s Key To Time time!

In the days when an arc would probably refer to a floating cryogenic repository, Doctor Who committed itself to a lengthy 26-episode run of intertwined stories. The Key To Time ties Season 16 together very simply with the concept of a quest. Basically, the Doctor has to hunt through time and space for six separate parts of a key (not an actual key you understand, it’s a floating plastic cube) that when linked, will put the universe in balance and end the threat of eternal chaos.

As tasks go, this is something pretty daunting – this isn’t your archetypal Apprentice task in which SirLordWhateverHisBleedinTitleIsAlanSugar sends a horde of sweaty wannabes to hawk for business at a local art gallery. No, this is huge. For such an important mission, the Doctor gets an oddly low-key briefing by the awesome White Guardian.

Gavin Gaughan writes: Michael Coveney's account of Timothy Bateson (obituary, 8 November) omitted a minor but noteworthy event in television comedy. The first person to give life on screen to Basil Fawlty was not John Cleese, but the diminutive, inoffensive-looking Bateson. Cleese took the inspiration from the real-life hotel proprietor Donald Sinclair, and before Fawlty Towers used Sinclair as the basis for a character, played by Bateson, in an episode of the Lwt series Doctor at Large in 1971. Although here named Clifford, he was already snapping at anyone who had the temerity to ask for a room, and was not slow to display exasperation to guests. Bateson was physically more similar to Sinclair than Cleese, and was equipped on screen with a towering wife. When casting himself and Prunella Scales, Cleese simply reversed the couple's sizes.

ComedyTelevisionJohn Cleese

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The Guardian newspaper in the UK has published an obituary for actor Timothy Bateson, who died in September at the age of 83. Bateson enjoyed an acting career stretching from the 1940s to the present decade, and in 1955 appeared in the first London production of the play "Waiting for Godot". He appeared in Doctor Who only once, in the 1978 serial The Ribos Operation, where he portrayed Binro the Heretic. In this role he took part in the scene where Binro explains that be believes there are other planets and other stars; this is frequently regarded as one of the most memorable scenes from Doctor Who, most recently acclaimed as such in Doctor Who Magazine's "200 Golden Moments" special edition. The serial, along with the others in the 1978 "Key to Time" series, is due to be re-released on DVD next week, following its previous limited edition issue.

Image courtesy of the Doctor Who Image Archivehttp://gallifreynewsbase.

Actor Simon McBurney has been cast as Kreacher the House-elf's voice-over in Deathly Hallows, as listed by his casting agency (http://www.troikatalent.com/CMcC/Mcburney_Simon.htm). Simon has been in a variety of films before Deathly Hallows, including The Golden Compass, The Duchess (starring Ralph Fiennes - Voldemort), The Last King of Scotland and much more. Timothy Bateson voiced Kreacher in Order of the Phoenix; Simon will be taking that role now. Photos of Simon can be seen here (http://www.snitchseeker.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=776): Image: http://www.snitchseeker.com/gallery/albums/userpics/84186/normal_mURI_temp_cd44077e.jpg Image: http://www.snitchseeker.com/gallery/albums/userpics/84186/normal_mURI_temp_48e7ddfc.jpg Image: http://www.snitchseeker.com/gallery/albums/userpics/84186/normal_mURI_temp_0f569226.jpg Image: http://www.snitchseeker.com/gallery/albums/userpics/84186/normal_Mcburney_Simon.jpg Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will...