'When can you dare to be brave and say how you actually feel?': Harry Potter TV series star Paapa Essiedu is unrecognizable in new heartbreaking BBC drama Babies

I'm crying just thinking about it

27 Mar 2026, 09:00 · TechRadar

Features By Jasmine Valentine published 27 March 2026

Paapa Essiedu and Siobhán Cullen are our leads. (Image credit: BBC)

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Now that the first teaser trailer for the upcoming HBO Max Harry Potter TV series is out in the world, everyone is talking about Paapa Essiedu taking on the role of Dark Arts professor, Severus Snape.

However, we're looking in the completely wrong direction. Sure, there were always going to be many contradicting opinions about the adaptation of the Harry Potter movies from the jump, but let's wait until it releases this Christmas before we make any judgments.

In the meantime, Essiedu has easily given the best performance of his career so far in new BBC drama, Babies. He plays Stephen, one half of a young couple who experience multiple miscarriages over the course of their relationship.

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It's one of the most gut-wrenching and honest portrayals of baby loss that I've ever seen, charting every possible emotion any person is capable of handling throughout. The grief is unimaginable, but somehow, there is always light and love at the end of the tunnel.

In a nutshell, it's a world away from Snape and the wonderful wizarding world of Harry Potter — and it's a must-watch to fully understand just what Essiedu can do.

'We're watching people try and fail to communicate effectively with the people they love'

Babies | Official Trailer - YouTube

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"A lot of what we're experiencing is watching people trying and failing to communicate effectively with people that they love and need," Essiedu tells me about the new series.

"It's hard not to be confronted by the moments that you have in your own life at the same time. In your romantic life, in your professional life, with your friends... it's like, when can you dare to be brave enough to be real and authentic and say what you actually feel?

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