A menagerie of Bradford animals has had a starring role in the latest Harry Potter film.

Bradford couple Doreen and Richard Brook supplied reptiles for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, as well as last year's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

And they have arranged for small creatures to be used in the next movie in the series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, due for release in June 2004.

But the couple cannot reveal anything else about the top-secret plot.

Mr Brook said their involvement in the first film started when they answered an advert in a reptile magazine asking for people with exotic animals.

They replied but got no response.

But six months later, they got a surprise call.

"I thought someone was having me on when I got a phone call from Warner Bros," Mrs Brook, pictured, said.

The filmmakers wanted some reptiles so Mr Brook took two of their monitor lizards to the set at Durham Cathedral for a few days filming.

So when it came to making Chamber of Secrets, the directors turned to the Brook family again.

"We took a vast array of different animals for an audition last January or February and then the director decided what he was going to use," Mr Brook said.

In the end, they supplied the moviemakers with three monitor lizards and six bearded dragon lizards.

Mr and Mrs Brook also took brown mice, belonging to their friend Tony Evans, of Thornton Pet Shop, as well as banded armadillos, African hedgehogs and tortoises.

Mr Evans, who owns the Market Street store, lent three of the brown mice used in the film.

The couple took the animals to the set in Durham every day for ten days and were able to work alongside Warner Bros's own team in handling the creatures.

Mr Brook said it was incredibly exciting to have some of his animals feature in the film.

They can be seen behind various characters but their starring role is during the scene where the youngsters at Hogwarts practice spells on their animals. The couple also got a chance to meet some of the stars including Robbie Coltrane and Maggie Smith.

"They are all so down-to-earth and would come and talk to us," 56-year-old Mrs Brook said.

The couple said they were thrilled to see some of their animals on screen when they saw a preview of the film.

They became interested in reptiles about four years ago and their collection has expanded to include various lizards, as well as tortoises.

Mr Brook is now hoping to give up his career as a joiner to breed the animals full-time.