The eagerly awaited Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince opens nationwide on Wednesday July 15th. Last Monday I headed off to the plush Claridges hotel in London's city centre to speak to a number of stars of the sixth Harry Potter movie. As a complete Potter fanatic it was a thrill to meet the main cast for the first time and I found them to be a pleasant, polite, level-headed and incredibly mature bunch of young adults.

First up is the boy wizard himself Daniel Radcliffe. My first meeting with him was when he almost knocked me down as he raced down the corridor of Claridges as I left another interview. With one of his trademark shy smiles and a quick "Sorry!",  he was gone but when I went in to interview him later in the afternoon we had a bit of a joke about our brief introduction.

Now almost 20 years of age (it's his birthday later this month), he's spent half his life playing JK Rowling's creation but like any guy his age he's mad about music, equally fascinated and perplexed by girls and insists he's not very grown up despite appearances.

You can hear what he had to say by clicking below.

Next up was Harry's best friend Ron, played by the unassuming and slightly shy Rupert Grint. Rupert of course has just recovered from a bout of swine flu and he seemed a bit less animated and somewhat more tired than the others but he was happy to talk about his kissing scene, filming Quidditch, and his now famous ice-cream truck.

You can hear that interview by clicking below.

Director David Yates has been on board since the start of the fifth movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and he's remaining at the helm for the final two-part adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. He's a soft-spoken gentleman but showed a clear passion for all things Potter and is well-respected by his young cast.

You can hear what he had to say here (including how Ireland's Cliffs of Moher ended up in the movie)

Click here for Part Two of our Harry Potter special, including interviews with Emma Watson (Hermione) and Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy).