Harry Potter takes off clothes

Here is some exciting, but shocking news for Harry Potter lovers!

Stripped of his clothes, not to mention the lightning scar on his forehead, these days Harry Potter is a million miles from Hogwarts. Alongside filming the fifth and sixth Potter movies, 17-year-old Daniel Radcliffe is now reported to be appearing on the West End stage in a revival of Peter Shaffer's controversial play Equus where he plays the troubled stable hand Alan Strang and (believe it or not) is involved in a lengthy nude sex scene with former Holby City actress Joanna Christie!

Interestingly, young Radcliffe is keen to impress everyone with his physique and is pumping up his slender frame in the gym for seven hours a week these days. However, whether his young fans will be impressed by his transition from Hermione Granger's boy wizard friend to hunky a sex symbol remains to be seen.

Already, parents across the globe have expressed their displeasure and worries over Radcliffe's appearance in the play, which will be open to children despite its explicit adult content.

The apprehensive parents have begun flooding the different websites with their anxieties. According to one parent, he feels that Daniel should not appear nude. He says that his nine-year-old son looks up to Daniel as a role model and they are very disappointed and would avoid the future movies that he made. Another parent wrote, "I am curious as to how and why Daniel's parents approved his appearing nude in the show."

Nonchalant over all such criticisms, Radcliffe is learnt to be rehearsing his nude scene for a week with his female co-star and although initially he was 'a little hesitant and shy', he has overcome his embarrassment, said the show's producer David Pugh, adding, "Equus is on the school syllabus and I would never stipulate what age people should be to see it."

On the other hand, Radcliffe's spokesman Vanessa Davies is reported to have said, "Daniel does not want to step away from Harry Potter, but at the same time he does want to show he is a rounded actor capable of very different and diverse roles. And he has tremendous support from Harry Potter fans."

Earlier, Equus had opened in the West End in 1973 amidst huge controversies and was followed by a movie version in 1977 in which Peter Firth played Alan and Jenny Agutter played his girlfriend Jill, both appearing full frontally nude. The new play opens at the Gielgud Theatre on February 27 and is reported to hve already attracted advance bookings worth 1million!