11 h. ago Stars so bright you gotta wear shades: backstage at the Olivier awards 2025 – in pictures

Guardian photographer David Levene was at the Royal Albert Hall to snap Cate Blanchett, John Lithgow, Lesley Manville, Naomi Campbell and many moreGiant, Benjamin Button and Fiddler on the Roof triumphFull list of winners‘To my wife for managing my vast collection of neuroses!’ – best quotes Continue reading...

Events

13 h. ago Olivier winner John Lithgow attacks Trump’s second presidency as ‘a disaster’ for US arts

Speaking after his best actor victory, Lithgow said Donald Trump’s administration ‘has done some shocking, destructive things’ especially its takeover of the Kennedy CenterThe actor John Lithgow has described Donald Trump’s second presidency as “a pure disaster” for the arts in the US. Lithgow, speaking after his best actor victory at the Olivier awards in London on Sunday, singled out Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center, Washington DC’s national institution for the performing arts. “Our administration has done some shocking, destructive things,” he said, “but the one that grieves me most is taking over the Kennedy Center.”The US president is now chair of the prestigious cultural complex (which was founded as a government-funded, bipartisan venue) and has installed new board members and a new interim leader, loyalist Ric Grenell. The board had been in the process of selecting a successor to outgoing leader Deborah Rutter, who in January announced her intention to step down after ...

Events

17 h. ago Dame Imelda Staunton wins fifth Olivier as John Lithgow takes swipe at Trump

Harry Potter and The Crown star Staunton took home her fifth Olivier Award on Sunday.

Politics

28 h. ago John Lithgow and Lesley Manville take home acting gongs at starry Olivier Awards

Imelda Staunton and Romola Garai were among the winners of the night

Events

29 h. ago John Lithgow wins best actor at the UK stage Olivier Awards for exploring Roald Dahl's dark side

American actor John Lithgow has won the best actor trophy at the London stage Olivier Awards for exploring the dark side of children’s writer Roald Dahl in “Giant.”

Events

29 h. ago Olivier awards 2025: Giant, Benjamin Button and Fiddler on the Roof triumph

John Lithgow, Imelda Staunton, Romola Garai and Layton Williams are among the winners at the annual stage awardsOlivier awards: full list of winnersThe play Giant, which portrays children’s author Roald Dahl amid an outcry about his antisemitism, has triumphed at the Olivier awards on a star-studded night at the Royal Albert Hall in London.US star John Lithgow took home the best actor prize for his performance as Dahl, Elliot Levey won best supporting actor (for playing publisher Tom Maschler) and Mark Rosenblatt received the award for best new play. Continue reading...

Events

30 h. ago Olivier Awards 2025 winners: Lesley Manville, 69, and John Lithgow, 79, proudly accept Best Actor and Actress gong

Lesley Manville and John Lithgow proudly accepted the award for Best Actor and Actress at the 2025 Olivier Awards on Sunday night.

Events

1 week ago Harry Potter TV series: Nick Frost in talks to join as Hagrid

After the books, films and stage show, the boy wizard is back in yet another incarnation – this time, on the small screen

Culture

1 week ago Free screening of new Mr Burton film coming to Ayrshire cinema

Free screening of biographical drama Mr Burton starring Toby Jones, Harry Lawtey and Lesley Manville will be on Ayr's Astoria Cinema next week

Culture

1 week ago Nick Frost 'nearing deal' to play Hagrid in new Harry Potter TV show

The actor-comedian would join John Lithgow, Janet McTeer and Paapa Essiedu who are set or in negotiations to play Professor Albus Dumbledore, Professor Minerva McGonagall and Professor Severus Snape

Economics

1 week ago John Lithgow explains why he doesn’t see playing Dumbledore in Harry Potter series as ‘that hard a job’

John Lithgow has said that even though he’s “behind everybody” when it comes to keeping up with the Harry Potter series, he doesn’t believe playing the Hogwarts headmaster will be “that hard”.

Politics

2 w. ago Shocked Danny Dyer says surprise win at BPG awards 'must be a f***ing typo'

Actor Danny Dyer won a Broadcasting Press Guild gong for his role in Rivals and gave a shout out to co-star Katherine Parkinson who plays his mistress in the show

Events

3 w. ago The Rule of Jenny Pen review – John Lithgow pulls the strings in care home horror

Geoffrey Rush’s retired judge is terrorised by Lithgow’s therapy puppet-wielding fellow resident in this claustrophobic tale of elder-on-elder abuseFilm-maker James Ashcroft has created a scary and intimately upsetting psychological horror based on a story by New Zealand author Owen Marshall set in a care home, a film whose coolly maintained claustrophobic mood and bravura performances make up for the slight narrative blurring towards the end. It’s a movie about bullying and elder abuse – more specifically, elder-on-elder abuse – and it is always most chilling when it sticks to the realist constraints of what could actually happen.The locale is an un-luxurious residential care facility where a retired judge is now astonished to find himself; this is Stefan Mortensen, played by Geoffrey Rush, who succumbed to a catastrophic stroke while passing judgment from the bench. He is a cantankerous and high-handed man, furious to be in this demeaning place and who, like many there, assures hi...

Events

3 w. ago The Rule of Jenny Pen review: John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush rip up the old folks’ home in this creepy treat

John Lithgow is a master at over-the-top chilling evil, while Geoffrey Rush hasn’t been this impressive for years

Politics