Slimline Richard Griffiths on Broadway

Fans of the film Withnail & I are in for a shock the next time they see Uncle Monty, aka Richard Griffiths (pictured). The actor, instantly recognisable by his rolly-polly rotundity, has shed a very noticeable amount of his legendary bulk. The change in appearance, astonishing by all accounts, coincides with his latest role, in a Broadway production of Peter Shaffer's Equus.

"I don't know how much exactly but yes, he has definitely lost weight," says a spokesman for the thespian, whose recent appearance in Alan Bennett's The History Boys, in which he also played an outlandish homosexual, won him great acclaim. "I'm not sure if it is for the role or whether he has just been on a diet."

Fortunately, his part in Equus - he plays pyschiatrist Martin Dysart -
does not specifically demand a a trimming of the thighs. Only his co-star, Harry Potter co-star Daniel Radcliffe, is required to cavort around the stage naked.