This Christmas, though, she is being not Hermione but Pauline Fossil in Ballet Shoes, an adaptation of the popular Noel Streatfeild novel on BBC One. It has a starry cast including Victoria Wood, Richard Griffiths (Uncle Vernon in the Potter franchise), Eileen Atkins, Harriet Walter and Emilia Fox. The story of three impoverished orphans, Pauline, Petrova and Posy, who have to triumph over adversity by their own talents, has entranced generations of young girls. It is a heartwarming tale full of organza dresses, velvet frocks, tantrums and tears. Pauline turns out to be a brilliant actress and Posy a brilliant dancer, while Petrova is brilliant at fixing cars and flying aeroplanes.


How her performance is received is obviously terribly important to Watson. 'It's the first time I've been anything but Hermione,' she says, fiddling with the cushions. 'Pauline is headstrong, so in that way she is quite like Hermione, but she is not academic. In fact, she actually reminds me of myself as a child, much more than Hermione does. Pauline is utterly obsessed with being an actress and I was just like that when I was younger. I dreamt of it. I practised speeches in front of mirrors. Whenever there was a part at school, I went for it. I was probably a bit of a show-off in the sense that any chance to get up and be seen, I did it.' She sounds like a nightmare. 'I was such a drama queen,' she says, blushing a bit. 'I used to wail and moan and cry, and little things were blown up into being big things. I don't know how my parents stood it, really.' She says she isn't like that at all now. 'I've grown up a bit,' she says. 'I've had to.'