Harry Potter child actors warned not to eat fake food as rare behind the scenes footage is shared

Child actors in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone were warned not to eat the fake food during filming.

The students of Hogwarts tucked into some huge and tasty scrans throughout the films for their feasts, but in the first instalment, the actors actually needed to be careful about what they devoured.

In rare behind-the-scenes footage, The Great Hall's dining tables are lined with giant piles of food for the Halloween night scene, which also gave us Professor Quirrell's iconic line of 'troll in the dungeon'.

Director Chris Columbus then warns the crowd of young actors: "Do not eat any of the treats in the middle of the table.

"In the middle of the table, all the things piled up have been sprayed so they look great on screen but they'll make you very sick if you eat them.

"Only eat the things that are on the plates in front of you. Alright?"

And it turns out that all the food in the film was actually real - at first.

Warner Bros

A 2016 social media post by the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London revealed that all of this real food 'didn't hold up well' under the hot lights during filming.

"The food spoiled quickly and the stench became so unbearable that for later films, the prop-making department cast moulds of frozen foods to make their likeness out of resin." the post read.

And Warwick Davis, who played both Professor Flitwick and Griphook in the Harry Potter franchise, revealed that the food had been left out 'all night'.

The actor told BANG Showbiz back in 2014: "A lot of great feasts happened in there [the Great Hall].

"You may film them for three or four days and the first day you step in there, they serve you a plate of food with lots of meats, vegetables and roast potatoes and you can eat the food."

However, this encouragement to eat didn't last long and it became pretty unpleasant for all those on set.

Warner Bros Studio Tour/Facebook

"The next day, they go, 'Don't eat the food' ... you just pretend now, it's been there all night." Davis continued.

"The fourth day, you could smell the Great Hall before you got in it. The food was the same food and it had quite an amazing smell."

More footage from the making of the films also show how they created the magical Platform 9 ¾ scene and, well, it's more movie magic than Potter magic unfortunately.

Camera trickery was used as a young Daniel Radcliffe simply ran towards the cameraman and through an archway to create the illusion that Harry had ran 'through the wall' of the platform in The Philosopher's Stone.