Played by: Richard Griffiths, Fiona Shaw and Harry Melling They may not be outright evil but Harry's legal guardians - and their oafish son - made the early part of Harry's life just as unpleasant as his teenage years fighting the forces of evil. In the grand tradition of atrocious adults in Roald Dahl's books, the Dursleys are are shown to be the antithesis of what Harry loves so much about the wizarding world. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia are prudes, void of imagination and dismissive of anything that is different or out of the ordinary. And, more importantly, they made their only nephew sleep in the cupboard under the stairs for eleven years. These are not nice people. However, the reason that they do not fall higher on this list is that they did take Harry in in the first place, giving him a place away from the dangerous wizarding world where he could be safe, if not happy, during his childhood. So does that mean we should actually like the Dursleys? No. Even Ms Rowling herself has said that the Dursleys, in particular Vernon, are the characters she hates the most of all those in the series. Ouch.
