John Lithgow’s doorstop and other moments

Lesley Manville, John Lithgow and Imelda Staunton were among the winners at the Olivier Awards 2025.

Here’s five things we learnt at UK theatre’s most prestigious night.

John Lithgow was one of the big winners of the night, taking home the coveted Best Actor trophy for his portrayal of Roald Dahl in Giant.

The actor who has starred in Conclave, The Crown and 3rd Rock from the Sun, tells us that “he never thought” he would win an Olivier.

Lithgow studied at drama school in London in the 1960s and saw Sir Laurence Olivier perform when he was a student in the capital.

He has won multiple awards already so where will Lithgow display his first Olivier award.

“I’m not a very vain person, I’m probably not vain enough. I basically use awards for doorstops.

“I have exactly six doors, for example, on the second floor of my Los Angeles home and I’ve also won six Emmys. So I will have to look for another door!”

He is the king of Broadway who is currently starring as the Emcee in the critically acclaimed Cabaret in the West End.

He tells us that he loves the UK audiences and says even though they are “a little more reserved” than US crowds, they have really “loosened up”.

Porter who presented the Olivier awards with West End star, Beverly Knight, does have a few words of advice for British cooks though.

The actor says “while the food better than it used to be” it still needs more “salt and pepper, before you cook it, not after”.

We have offered to have him round for dinner at the BBC canteen, let’s see if he accepts.

Romola Garai beat off stiff competition – including from herself – to take home the Olivier for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Years.

She was also nominated in the same category for Giant.

It is Garai’s first Olivier win and she already has an idea where the prized trophy will be displayed.

“My little boy did ask that if I won, could he keep it in his room and I was like ‘I guess you can!’ so it will be with all his action figures.

“I feel that I’m accepting this on behalf of my kids, my husband. Everybody wanted me to do something I felt so passionately about.”

Titanique is one of those shows where seeing really is believing.

It is a jukebox musical of Celine Dion hits, where Celine herself hijacks a museum tour about the Titanic cruise liner in order to narrate her version of what happened the night the vessel sank.

Got it?

The show won two awards at the Oliviers, best supporting actor in a musical for Layton Williams for his portrayal of the infamous iceberg and best entertainment or comedy play.

Titanique is a tribute to Celine’s powerhouse vocals so has the Canadian diva seen it yet?

The answer is not yet but the creators Tye Blue, Marla Mindelle and Constantine Rousouli say her set designer, backing singer and even Celine’s sister have watched it.

Rousouli says he “would explode into a million pieces of dust” if Celine was in the audience.

But Mindelle who originated the role of Celine in Titanique says she “would faint…then (the real) Celine Dion would walk on stage and somehow take over the part and it would be exactly the same.

“The show would go on without a hitch.”

Meera Syal’s performance in A Tupperware of Ashes was greeted with rave reviews, so it is no surprise she was nominated for Best Actress at this years awards.

Syal played a mother diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease.

The actress says she found out she had been nominated for the prestigious acting prize after leaving a Zumba class.

“I saw about ten missed calls from my agent and quite a few from my daughter and thought what is going on?

“So sweaty and in my leggings I rang up and got the news and it was such a lovely surprise for a Tuesday morning!”