Television

• Type: Muggle device
• Owners: Vernon Dursley, Petunia Dursley, Dudley Dursley
• Maker: Various Muggle manufacturers

A television is a common Muggle electronic device consisting of a box-like casing and a screen that displays moving pictures accompanied by sound. It is a primary source of news and entertainment in the non-magical world. The model owned by the Dursleys at Number 4, Privet Drive was upgraded in 1995 to a new, wide-screen television. This was purchased after Dudley Dursley, in a fit of rage, threw their previous television out of the window because a news broadcast interrupted his favorite program.

Televisions function using electricity, a form of Muggle energy that most wizards, including enthusiasts like Arthur Weasley, find fascinating but do not fully understand. For Muggles like the Dursleys, the television is a central part of daily life, providing constant entertainment and information. This reliance on mundane technology stands in stark contrast to the magical forms of communication and leisure in the wizarding world, such as the Wizarding Wireless Network (WWN), the living photographs in the Daily Prophet, and enchanted portraits. The presence and importance of the television in the Dursley household continually highlights the cultural and technological divide between the magical and non-magical communities.

The television is a recurring object that grounds the narrative in the Muggle world and occasionally serves as a key plot device for conveying information.

• Symbol of Dursley Life: The television is central to the Dursleys' existence, symbolizing their aggressively normal and non-magical lifestyle. Dudley Dursley is almost always depicted watching it, and receiving a new one is treated as a major reward. Harry Potter, by contrast, is often forbidden from watching it, further emphasizing his outsider status within the family.
• Source of Muggle News: The television provides Harry and the reader with the Muggle perspective on events originating from the wizarding world.
  • In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry first learns of the escape of Sirius Black from a news report on the Dursleys' television. The broadcast describes Black as a dangerous murderer armed with a gun, omitting all magical context of his escape from Azkaban.
  • In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the Muggle Prime Minister is shown watching news reports on his office television that detail the catastrophic bridge collapses and destructive “hurricanes” caused by Voldemort's followers, just before his meeting with Cornelius Fudge.
  • The Dursleys are noted to watch the news in the hope of hearing about any strange events that might be connected to “Harry's kind,” and express relief that the official story of the Potters' death in a car crash is never mentioned.
• Highlighting Dudley's Character: In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Dudley's spoiled and aggressive nature is showcased when he throws a tantrum and puts his foot through the television, leading his parents to buy him a new one as an incentive for his diet.

The television primarily functions as a narrative tool to firmly place the Harry Potter series in the contemporary Muggle world of the 1990s. It acts as a window for the reader into how the non-magical population perceives the strange and often terrifying events that bleed over from the Second Wizarding War, while simultaneously serving as a constant symbol of the mundane, unimaginative life that Harry is forced to endure at Privet Drive.