Published posthumously, the prologue of the diaries are quite intriguing "We're not sure why Alan kept journals, and if he ever wanted them published" but published they were and we can all acquiesce in the seemingly innocent subterfuge. Content- wise, there are so many names dropped that it will only appeal to those who recognise the characters.

I would count myself as an average fan, however, and by the second half of his diaries was finding it hard not to love him less . After watching, The Half Blood Prince, Rickman said that he felt the need to “the need to bang the three Davids’ heads against the nearest wall," referring to Harry Potter producers David Heyman and David Barron, and director David Yates. However this was a diary which probably wasn’t intended for publication, and I admittedly read it mainly for the references to the filming of the Harry Potter movies for which there are a reasonable number of entries across the years from 2000 to 2011. Instantly recognisable for the commanding air of dignity and knowing wit he brought to roles including Severus Snape and Hans Gruber.I thought his diaries were being published because they would serve to show the depth of who he was, and instead it was just short journal entries of his day-to-day. The diaries show someone not as funny or as self-deprecating as fans might expect, but that’s hardly his fault. The late nights, bad meals at odd hours, room-service snacks, hang-overs and streaming colds; the jet lag, mounds of unopened mail, phones ringing incessantly; the ailing back and neck, stomach upsets, sweating, swellings, skin problems, vision and hearing issues: when cancer comes it is no surprise. With his glittering eyes and striking looks, Rickman's presence on stage or screen is truly unforgettable. However, he did have some complimentary things to say about the franchise, shouting out future Oscar winner Alfonso Cuarón for doing “an extraordinary job” directing Prisoner of Azkaban.

Rickman was an excellent actor, but it’s a diary with lots of dates, lots of mentions of famous people, lots of food and restaurants, lots of funerals, comments on acting technique, but not a lot of introspection. He is harrowed by bad manners and rudeness, deploring the want of “curiosity” – he meant an interest in others. Yes he's a bit cantankerous and yes he's pretty opinionated but no, he's never rude or disrespectful.

More of him comes into view when you see what those journals were and from where this material was taken. I would hope he'd know me better and feel like he's reading about an old friend too as well as a father. One line in particular made me nearly put the book down three-quarters of the way through: "Confucius say lack of S-word (sponsorship) lead to F-word. The editor had more than a million words of entries to work with and condensing them to 500 pages can’t have been an easy job, but if only he had added some context and background information it would be a less maddeningly opaque read .

His work as a Producer to get My Name is Rachel Corrie onto the stage is fascinating, although for a long time I wasn’t sure exactly what is going on. Here is Rickman the consummate professional actor, but also the friend, the traveller, the fan, the director, the enthusiast: in short, the real Alan Rickman. From the outside, his life appears an exhausting whirl of rehearsals, film screenings, theatre visits, awards ceremonies, house purchases and mad dashes to catch planes (more than once, he boards a flight and realises he has left half his clothes hanging in the hotel wardrobe). The diaries span 22 years, beginning in 1993 and ending in December 2015 (a few weeks after the final entry, Rickman died, aged 69, from pancreatic cancer), thereby capturing him at the height of his fame. Too often, all we present is an attempted repeat of a hazy memory of the once we thought we almost made it.

Per The AV Club, Rickman tried to quit after the 2002's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets—“Reiterating no more HP. Pat McAfee is 'sick' of criticism aimed at Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce after the Chiefs' AFC title victory: 'Why is everybody so mad? Alan Rickman is that rarest of an internationally acclaimed Hollywood movie star, and an actor whose skills are praised by critics and cinemagoers alike. But the startling is good, and I'm going to suggest you run with it and resist a preview of the center photographs until you're a few years in.