So who else has felt empty since July 2007? Flat, finished, as though living a pale imitation of life where day succeeds monotonous, relentless day, and all you have to look forward to is...

...this film.

I have to confess that, at the time of writing, I have not seen it. Not for want of trying - it hasn't yet been released, and every time I build a time machine in the garden shed men in black suits come over and shut me down. But I have seen the previews and it looks AMAZING. Each Harry Potter film is darker and more fascinating than the last, and this one looks stellar. In his sixth year at Hogwarts, Harry is finally ready to be let into the big secrets. This film is amazing for its exploration of relationships - Harry and Dumbledore; Harry, Hermione and Ron; Harry and a new love - and, most interesting and chilling of all, the relationships, loves, betrayals and obsessions that surround Voldemort, his birth, and his life. The art direction is breathtaking; the plot is mesmerising; and Jim Broadbent - whom I had cast as Slughorn within two hours of reading the book - is deliciously camp as Dumbledore's old friend and returned teacher.

This is easily the best thing the Film Group has screened since Order of the Phoenix - and there's still at least one more Harry Potter film to go before there's nothing to look forward to any more.