Stunt double whose life changed forever on Harry Potter set speaks out about tragic accident

Daniel Radcliffe’s stunt double’s life changed forever after a catastrophic injury during filming.

David Holmes was a stunt double on many of the Harry Potter films, working closely with the Harry actor himself. The pair formed a very close bond, one that still stands today.

Radcliffe also collaborated with the stuntman for his documentary, The Boy Who Lived.

This gives people a real insight into his life since the tragic incident during Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 in 2009 that caused him to be permanently paralysed.

The former gymnast was filming a ‘jerk-back’ sequence on set (designed to replicate the effects of an explosion) when things went very wrong.

Holmes broke his neck before being rushed to hospital where he was later told he would be paralysed from the chest down, with limited movement in his arms and hands.

During an appearance on Mamamia’s No Filter podcast, he explained: “My spinal cord separated at the C 67 vertebrae just at the bottom of your at the bottom of your neck before your thorax starts.”

Holmes said the accident left him ‘stripped back’ to how he was as a little kid, making him ‘vulnerable’ and ‘needy’.

“People needed to feed me, people needed to dress me, wash me, you name it, and then gruelling rehabilitation,” he recalled

But through it all, many of the cast members would visit him in hospital, showing their support as he still speaks of many of them as good friends today.

David Holmes has been very open about his accident (Tristan Fewings/WireImage)

“They were young to have to see me like that, with wires in me and stuff hanging out my nose,” Holmes added.

“For me being brave for them on camera all those years... they got the opportunity to flip that and be brave for me.”

As seen in the documentary, the stuntman looks on his injury and life with optimism as he said the thing worse than ‘breaking your neck is the pain in your loved ones’ eyes’.

“Life is hard, broken neck or not,” Holmes said. “I learned that lesson at 25, and it made me make peace with the fact it teaches you gratitude. I am here today, now. Where am I going to be in 10 years' time, in my body? I can't tell you… it forces me to be here now to take in the day.”

Holmes was a star stuntman (HBO)

Radcliffe is one of those still by his side today as the stunt double previously told LADbible he’s ‘like family’ as they ‘grew up together’.

“It wasn't just as his stunt double but I was his PE teacher, we've shared holidays together, and now I get to watch him grow as a man,” Holmes said.

“One of my greatest pleasures is having him in my life.”