Daniel Radcliffe has won his first Tony Award and admitted it was “one of the best experiences” of his life at a ceremony in New York which saw big wins for The Outsiders and Stereophonic.

The 34-year-old star of the Harry Potter movies picked up the award at the 77th annual event, which recognises excellence in Broadway theatre, for his role in the revival of Merrily We Roll Along.

After performing with the cast of the show on stage at the Lincoln Centre’s David H Koch Theatre, Radcliffe appeared shocked to win the award for best actor in a featured role in a musical.

“This has been one of the best experiences of my life,” Radcliffe said.

He thanked the late George Furth and Stephen Sondheim “for writing this unbelievable show” in 1981, the songs of which he described as “a gift to get to sing every night”.

He also said it was an “honour” to share the stage with co-stars Lindsay Mendez and Jonathan Groff in the musical, which charts the turbulent relationship between three lifelong friends.

The Outsiders, based on the SE Hinton book about rival gangs in 1960s Oklahoma, won three awards including best new musical – and landed producer Angelina Jolie her first Tony.

Stereophonic, the play about a Fleetwood Mac-like band recording an album over a turbulent year, won best new play and scooped the night’s most total awards with five.

The star-studded ceremony also saw Nick Jonas, Nicole Scherzinger, Jennifer Hudson, Idina Menzel, and Cynthia Erivo among the attendees, while there was a surprise performance from Alicia Keys and Jay-Z.

Radcliffe’s Merrily We Roll Along co-star Groff won best actor in a musical – while British director Maria Friedman collected the gong for best revival of a musical alongside her producer sister Sonia.

The ceremony kicked off with a first-time win for Succession’s Jeremy Strong, who triumphed in the best actor in a play category for An Enemy Of The People.

Sarah Paulson won best actress in a play for her role in Appropriate, a dark family drama-turned-comedy from playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.

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Theatre veteran Kecia Lewis picked up her first Tony for best featured actress in musical Hell’s Kitchen.

In an emotional speech, Lewis recalled how she “walked into the Imperial Theatre to begin my Broadway career at 18 years old”.

She added: “This moment is the one I dreamed for most of those 40 years, so I say to everyone who can hear my voice – don’t give up.”

To win a Tony – short for Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre – means a winner is a quarter of the way towards becoming among the few to gain an EGOT, the so-called “grand slam” of American show business, achieved by those who also win an Oscar, Emmy and Grammy.

The West End of London’s equivalent awards are the Olivier Awards, which were presented this year in April.

Sir Rod Stewart appeared to be booed as photos of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were shown at a concert in Germany.

The 79-year-old singer, who has spoken out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was playing at Leipzig’s Quarterback Immobilien Arena on Friday.

Before performing his 1991 hit Rhythm Of My Heart – which he calls a war song and has dedicated to Kyiv in recent shows – the Ukrainian flag was projected on screen behind Sir Rod.

Images of Mr Zelenskyy were then shown, prompting loud boos, shouts, and whistles from the crowd.

Videos from social media show the crowd appearing to jeer as Sir Rod salutes the Ukrainian president.

The singer has regularly condemned Russia since 2022, and recently called Vladimir Putin an “arsehole” during an interview with Sky News.

He told Sky News’s Friday Night With Niall Patterson in February: “We have to support Ukraine right to the end.”

In October 2022, Sir Rod also revealed had rented and furnished a home for a family of seven Ukrainian refugees.

“Words couldn’t describe what we were watching,” he told the Daily Mirror at the time. “The bombing of innocent children, the bombing of hospitals and ­playgrounds.

“Like everyone else, we were completely beside ourselves. I don’t wish that on anyone. This is evil, pure evil.”

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Sir Rod will return to Germany for a show at Hamburg’s Barclays Arena later this week, before performing in Cologne on 25 June and Munich on 28 June.

A representative for Sir Rod has been asked for comment.

It doesn’t get much more hotly anticipated than the first Game Of Thrones spin-off, but House Of The Dragon gave us a brand new story in a familiar world and was largely seen to have lived up to expectations.

The first series, which launched in 2022, was critically acclaimed and won awards – and also gave HBO its largest single-day viewership for a series debut in the service’s history.

But if there was criticism, it was that it was a little slow, too much set-up and not enough action, with decades being covered throughout the season as characters grew up and sides were taken.

Has the pace ramped up for series two?

The second season kicks off where the first left off, with battle lines drawn, blood spilt and two former best friends fighting for the crown – and Sky News has spoken to the cast about what to expect.

Be warned – spoilers for series one ahead.

Team Green v Team Black

“I feel like I was like trying to throw my body over the crack between the Targaryen family,” says Olivia Cooke, who plays Alicent Hightower – a powerful member of the Greens and whose son Aegon was hastily crowned after she claims his father named him as his heir while on his deathbed.

This effectively usurped Rhaenyra (played by Emma D’Arcy) from the Blacks, who claimed she was the rightful Queen as the King’s first-born – and if that wasn’t enough to put them at odds, the series ended with Alicent’s other son killing Rhaenyra’s.

“The chasm is well and truly opened,” says Cooke. “And it’s about management of that and trying to make sure that we don’t descend into bloody, horrible, civil war.

“And the men around us are just so hellbent on having their names in the annals of history, and trying to mitigate that is a nightmare.”

Returning to and expanding Westeros

With the second series commissioned after the first proved to be a hit, D’Arcy says there was a different feel on set when they returned.

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“The first time around, we were trepidatious for so many reasons, not least because Westeros is a much beloved site and you need a very good reason to return there. We thought we had one, but even so, a prequel is a big ask of a fandom – you’re asking those people to sort of take a bit of a gamble with you and we knew that there was different ways that that might go.

“I think what was lovely, certainly I felt, it’s very helpful to watch the show and to have a much clearer sense of the job description, the job at hand, the context, the sorts of identity, the aesthetic of the show. But also, I felt certainly that I sort of finally got my Westerosi passport, that I was, you know, no longer a foreigner.”

Fans of the world of Westeros will see more of it this season, says Matt Smith who plays Rhaenyra’s husband – and uncle – Daemon Targaryen.

“The show is evolving and getting bigger and exploring different parts of Westeros, which I think is quite exciting as well. “Hopefully it ticks the boxes it’s meant to.”

Dragon-riding

While both sides of the Targaryen family have access to the ultimate weapon – dragons – wiser members are not in a hurry to use them, knowing the massive amounts of death and destruction that could be unleashed.

But it wouldn’t be much of a series of House Of The Dragon without us seeing plenty of the creatures, and we know that five new ones are being introduced.

For Ewan Mitchell, who plays Prince Aemond Targaryen – the rider of the largest dragon – it’s an opportunity like no other.

“A hundred per cent it’s probably the closest we’ll ever get to dragon riding in real life,” he says. “You are ultimately suspended, 15, 20 foot up in the air, you have a wind machine, you have a rain machine, we use something called the volume, which utilises this game engine which projects the environment around you.

“So it really gives you something to react off, you’re not just playing make-believe, and for an actor, that’s just super liberating – it’s escapism taken to another level.”

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One of the show’s most out-and-out villainous characters returning with Team Green is the duplicitous Lord Larys Strong, played by Matthew Needham.

He admits drawing inspiration for the role from a surprising source – the reality show Couples Therapy.

“You know, the doctor – Dr Orna Guralnik, I think is her name,” he says.

“Her quality of listening… I know, I’m sorry, I don’t mean to insult her, but her quality of listening – she’s very focused and attentive, so it takes everything in – was something I thought a lot about. But, I feel like I’m really disparaging her.”

Facts and figures

The first series was made during the pandemic, so an already challenging production was made even more so.

This time around there were fewer restrictions in terms of tests and masks, but the filming was no still no mean feat – with the show made across England, Wales and Spain at its peak, some 1,250 crew were working at one time, and 2,430 were involved in total during the almost six-month-long shoot.

Four hundred costumes were made for key characters, while another 5,000 were created for the supporting cast.

And we know there will be at least one epic battle scene – as it needed 250 extras for weeks at a time.

House Of The Dragon returns to Sky Atlantic on 17 June