Only Connect Harry Potter Question Sparks Debate Over Colin Farrell’s Grindelwald Role

A Harry Potter-themed connection on Only Connect left viewers arguing over whether the BBC quiz had technically got its own answer wrong.

The puzzle appeared during the first semi-final of Series 19, broadcast on January 8, 2024, when the Thrifters faced the Suncatchers. The question linked several characters from the Wizarding World to Martin McDonagh’s 2008 black comedy In Bruges.

Neither team managed to identify the connection from the clues.

When host Victoria Coren Mitchell revealed the answer, however, viewers quickly noticed a potential problem involving Colin Farrell — and specifically whether he could really be described as having played Gellert Grindelwald.

The debate hinged on a surprisingly fine distinction: Farrell played Percival Graves for most of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, before the film revealed that Graves was actually Grindelwald in disguise.

The Four Clues That Stumped Both Teams

The puzzle presented four statements:

• “Grindelwald is the younger of the two main characters.”
• “Fleur Delacour dates Grindelwald.”
• “Mad-Eye Moody is the older of the main characters.”
• “Lord Voldemort is the boss of Grindelwald and Mad-Eye Moody.”

Taken literally, the clues made little sense within the Harry Potter universe.

That was the point.

Rather than asking contestants to identify a relationship between the fictional characters, the question required them to think about the actors who played them.

The intended connection was:

Wizarding World actors in In Bruges.

Once the characters were converted back into their respective actors, the clues fell into place.

How The Harry Potter Characters Led To In Bruges

The four Wizarding World characters pointed towards four actors who appeared in In Bruges.

Ralph Fiennes, who played Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter films, portrayed crime boss Harry Waters in the 2008 film.

Brendan Gleeson, who played Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody, appeared as Ken.

Clémence Poésy, who portrayed Fleur Delacour, played Chloë.

And Colin Farrell, who played Percival Graves in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, starred as Ray, one of the film’s two central hitmen. In Bruges stars Farrell and Gleeson as hitmen Ray and Ken, with Fiennes as their boss.

That explained the strange wording of the clues.

Grindelwald was the “younger” of the two main characters because Farrell’s Ray is younger than Gleeson’s Ken. Fleur Delacour dates Grindelwald because Poésy’s Chloë is involved with Farrell’s Ray. Moody was the older character because Gleeson played Ken.

And Voldemort was the boss because Fiennes played Harry.

Everything appeared to fit.

Except for one detail.

The Colin Farrell Problem

Farrell’s connection to Grindelwald was not as straightforward as the wording suggested.

In the 2016 film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Farrell plays Percival Graves, the Director of Magical Security at MACUSA.

Near the end of the film, however, Graves is revealed to be Gellert Grindelwald in disguise. Colin Farrell therefore portrays the character seen as Graves, while the true identity underneath the disguise is Grindelwald. The official Wizarding World site likewise describes Farrell’s character as Percival Graves, whose secret identity is revealed to be Grindelwald.

That distinction was enough to divide viewers.

Some argued that the Only Connect clue was technically inaccurate because Farrell is credited as Percival Graves, while Johnny Depp plays Grindelwald when the character is revealed. Mads Mikkelsen later took over the role in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.

In other words, if the clue is interpreted strictly by the character Farrell is credited as playing, saying that he “played Grindelwald” can appear misleading.

But There Is Another Way To Read It

The objection is not quite as clear-cut as it first appears.

The film’s twist establishes that the person audiences have been watching as Percival Graves is actually Grindelwald using Graves’s appearance.

That means Farrell’s performance is ultimately part of the film’s portrayal of Grindelwald, even though his on-screen character is presented under the name Percival Graves for most of the story.

The Wizarding World itself describes Farrell’s character in essentially those terms: he plays Graves, whose hidden identity is Grindelwald.

So the argument comes down to how literally the clue should be interpreted.

If the question is about the character’s credited identity, Farrell played Graves.

If it is about the person behind the disguise, Farrell’s character was Grindelwald.

That small distinction transformed what should have been a clever connection into a surprisingly heated debate among viewers.

A Complicated Connection Even Without The Controversy

The underlying puzzle was difficult enough without the disputed wording.

Contestants first had to recognise that the references to Grindelwald, Fleur Delacour, Mad-Eye Moody and Voldemort were not really about the characters themselves.

They then had to identify the actors behind those characters and make a further connection to In Bruges.

The film itself was released in 2008 and was written and directed by Martin McDonagh, with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson playing Ray and Ken and Ralph Fiennes playing their crime boss. Clémence Poésy also appears as Chloë.

That layered construction is typical of Only Connect: the individual clues can seem nonsensical until the solver finds the correct way of interpreting them.

In this case, however, finding the intended connection did not end the discussion.

It started another one.

The Semi-Final Went Down To A Tie-Break

The disputed question was part of a remarkably close semi-final.

The Thrifters and Suncatchers finished the game level at 20–20, forcing the match into a tie-break. Only the team captains were allowed to answer the deciding question.

The Thrifters ultimately won the tie-break and advanced to the Series 19 final, while the Suncatchers went on to compete in the third-place play-off.

That made the episode even more memorable for fans who had already been dissecting the Harry Potter connection.

Why The Wording Mattered So Much

A loose description might not normally cause much concern on a television quiz.

But Only Connect is built around precision.

Its questions frequently depend on the exact relationship between seemingly unrelated clues, and contestants are expected to find distinctions that can be incredibly subtle.

That makes the Farrell question particularly interesting.

The intended answer works because Farrell, Gleeson, Fiennes and Poésy all connect the Wizarding World to In Bruges.

Yet the Grindelwald reference leaves room for a legitimate technical objection because Farrell’s character is presented as Percival Graves before the disguise is removed.

So viewers were left with two competing interpretations of the same clue.

One saw the wording as technically wrong.

The other saw it as a reasonable description of a character whose true identity is eventually revealed.

And that may have been the most Only Connect part of the whole puzzle: even after the connection was revealed, viewers still had something to argue about.

For once, the difficult question was not simply “What connects these clues?”

It was “Does the connection actually hold?”