Harry Melling's weight loss was "just something that happened".

The 33-year-old actor lost a significant amount of weight after playing Dudley Dursley in five 'Harry Potter' films - but Harry insists he wasn't trying to disassociate himself from the character by changing his appearance.

He said: "I have no control over that narrative. But I went to drama school and I lost some weight, and that’s it. To me! And people will find fascination with that. They want to ask why and how I did it, but that’s not of any interest to me whatsoever."

Asked if his weight loss helped him to shed the 'Harry Potter' association, he told The Independent: "I think you can be an actor in whatever shape you want to be.

"But losing weight at the time was not a conscious decision at all, it was just something that happened. And of course that makes people see you in a different way, and maybe that opens up different casting opportunities. I don’t think that was a conscious decision.

"I mean, maybe in hindsight, somewhere in me, I’ve always been interested in the actors that transform ... so maybe that’s where the instinct to do that came from."

Harry starred in the money-spinning film franchise alongside the likes of Daniel Radcliffe, Dame Emma Thompson, Rupert Grint and Tom Felton.

But the actor admits that he hasn't kept in touch with many of his former co-stars.

He reflected: "It’s that weird thing, we did it when we were so young. I think everyone’s sort of gone off and done their own things.

"A lot of them have left the UK, which is interesting. I’ve kind of stuck around here."