Thousands queue outside Excel Centre as open auditions for Harry Potter spin-off get underway

Thousands of girls have descended on London’s Excel Centre to take part in open auditions for JK Rowling’s Harry Potter spin-off film, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

It is estimated that around 14,000 girls aged between eight and 12 were queueing outside the east London exhibition centre this morning as producers from Warner Bros audition for the role of Modesty, a "haunted young girl with an inner strength and stillness".

Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne is already lined up to star in the Rowling’s latest project, which is inspired by the textbook of the same name given to pupils at Potter’s Hogwarts school.

It is set in New York 70 years before the Harry’s story begins.

Pictures posted on Twitter today showed huge queues outside the Excel.

"I've basically just been preparing how to say my name and a bit about myself," one hopeful waiting for her audition told Sky News.

Another said: "It is extremely unlikely because there are so many people here, but it would be amazing if I got the part."

The successful auditioned will begin filming for the movie between August and January, while the film is due for release in November 2016.