THE stars turned out last night to see an unknown Huddersfield actress bare all with Harry Potter.

It was Joanna Christie's big night as she trod the boards at the premiere of a new stage version of Equus.

The 24-year-old plays opposite Daniel Radcliffe, star of the Harry Potter films.

Both appear naked in the production at Gielgud Theatre in London's West End.

And among the celebrity audience were Sir Bob Geldof and daughter Pixie, Hollywood star Christian Slater, Cilla Black and former Boyzone singer Stephen Gateley.

Radcliffe received a standing ovation at the end of his West End stage debut in Peter Shaffer's play.

Celebrity guests were united in their praise for Radcliffe who plays Alan Strang, a troubled stablehand who has an erotic fixation with horses. And they gave mixed reactions to the four-minute nude scene which has dominated the headlines in the run up to the show's launch. TV presenter Graham Norton said: "Why do people keep asking about him being naked? I'm a gay man and I'm not mentioning it. It's a play - get over it, ladies."

But Pixie Geldof, who watched last night's performance at the Gielgud Theatre, in Shaftesbury Avenue, with her father Sir Bob, said: "I was so shocked! I love him, I think he is beautiful."

Slater said: "The work that Daniel did on stage was incredible, extraordinary. I take my hat off to him completely."

After the performance, the young actor admitted his nude scene with co-star Joanna of Almondbury, was the talking point of the production.

"I sort of expected it really," he said. "If I went into it thinking nobody was going to talk about it, I would have been very stupid. "But it's not a big part of the play, it's four minutes at most."

Joanna said: "I can't believe there are people saying he's a bad role model for children. He's an actor playing a part and in the story he happens to have a relationship with a girl.

"The play is on school syllabuses. It's an amazingly interesting, complex story. It's not about nudity or sex. It's about a lot of very complex issues."

Joanna has revealed she was on the verge of giving up acting before landing the part in Equus.

She had taken a PR job after failing to get auditions.

Joanna comes from a musical family - mum is a singer, pianist and conductor and brother is a jazz drummer.

After growing up in Huddersfield she went on study English, music and theatre studies at Oundle, Northants, before moving to London to attend the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.

She thought she had made a mess of the Equus audition - then got a call the next day to read the piece with Daniel Radcliffe.