Playwright Sir Tom Stoppard, who won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Shakespeare In Love, has died at the age of 88.

A statement from United Agents said: “We are deeply saddened to announce that our beloved client and friend, Tom Stoppard, has died peacefully at home in Dorset, surrounded by his family.

“He will be remembered for his works, for their brilliance and humanity, and for his wit, his irreverence, his generosity of spirit and his profound love of the English language.

“It was an honour to work with Tom and to know him.”

King Charles said in a tribute: “My wife and I are deeply saddened to learn of the death of one of our greatest writers, Sir Tom Stoppard. A dear friend who wore his genius lightly, he could, and did, turn his pen to any subject, challenging, moving and inspiring his audiences, borne from his own personal history.

“We send our most heartfelt sympathy to his beloved family. Let us all take comfort in his immortal line: ‘Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else’.”

Sir Tom’s entertainment career spanned more than six decades, in which he won a host of Tony and Olivier awards, as well as the Golden Globe and Academy Award with Marc Norman for their 1998 screenplay Shakespeare In Love – starring fellow Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow.

His work, known to blend intellect, emotion and humour, often explored philosophical and political themes, challenging societal norms to remind audiences of the power of thought.

His other award-winning plays included Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead, The Real Thing and Travesties.

The playwright also wrote prolifically for TV, radio and film, including adapting Leo Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina for the 2012 film starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law, and TV series Parade’s End with Benedict Cumberbatch and Rebecca Hall – adapted from novels by Ford Madox Ford.

He received countless accolades and honours during his career, including being knighted by the late Queen for his services to literature in 1997.

He won the David Cohen Prize For Literature in 2017, following in the footsteps of laureates Harold Pinter, Hilary Mantel and Seamus Heaney.

Sir Tom released his semi-autobiographical work titled Leopoldstadt in 2020 – set in the Jewish quarter of early 20th century Vienna – which later won him an Olivier award for best new play and also scooped four Tony awards.

The West End play, which featured his son Ed Stoppard, also saw him honoured by PEN America, the literary and human rights organisation, which handed him the Mike Nichols Writing for Performance Award.

From refugee to playwrighting sensation

Sir Tom was born Tomas Straussler in Czechoslovakia, but fled and changed his name amid the Nazi occupation, finding refuge in Britain in 1946.

He became a journalist in Bristol in 1954 before becoming a theatre critic and writing plays for radio and TV, including The Stand-Ins, later revised as The Real Inspector Hound, and Albert’s Bridge first broadcast by BBC Radio.

His career took off with hit play Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead, which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1966, before it was produced for the National Theatre and on Broadway, winning four Tony awards in 1968 including best play.

Sir Tom began advocating on behalf of Soviet and Eastern Bloc dissidents after writing Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, a play inspired by his friendship with Viktor Fainberg, who had been imprisoned in Czechoslovakia by the Soviets.

Much later, in 2002, his trilogy of plays set in 19th century Russia, The Coast Of Utopia, were staged at the National Theatre.

His most recent plays include Heroes, Rock ‘n’ Roll and The Hard Problem.

Satire has long been an occupational hazard for politicians – and while it has long been cartoons or shows like Spitting Image, content created by artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly becoming the norm.

A new page called the Crewkerne Gazette has been going viral in recent days for their videos using the new technology to satirise Rachel Reeves and other politicians around the budget.

On Sky’s Politics Hub, our presenter Darren McCaffrey spoke to one of the people behind the viral sensations, who is trying to remain anonymous.

He said: “A lot of people are drawing comparisons between us and Spitting Image, actually, and Spitting Image was great back in the day, but I kind of feel like recently they’ve not really covered a lot of what’s happening.

“So we are the new and improved Spitting Image, the much better Have I Got News For You?”

He added that those kinds of satire shows don’t seem to be engaging with younger people – but claimed his own output is “incredibly good at doing” just that.

Examples of videos from the Crewkerne Gazette includes a rapping Kemi Badenoch and Rachel Reeves advertising leaky storage containers.

They even satirised our political editor Beth Rigby’s interview with the prime minister on Thursday, when he defended measures in the budget and insisted they did not break their manifesto pledge by raising taxes.

“Crewkerne Man” says providing satire for younger people is important as Labour is lowering the voting age.

Asked why he is trying to be anonymous, the man said the project is not about one person – or even the whole group – but rather their output.

He also claimed the UK is “increasingly seeing arrests – especially with comedians”, pointing to the Graham Linehan case.

“So we just never know where the Labour Party is going to drive the policy next, in regards to free speech,” he said.

“So for me, certainly it’s a matter of safety.”

Watch Beth Rigby’s actual interview with Sir Keir Starmer below.

The creator of an AI actress has told Sky News that synthetic performers will get more actors working, rather than steal jobs.

AI production studio Particle6 has ruffled feathers in Hollywood by unveiling Tilly Norwood – a 20-something actress created by artificial intelligence.

Speaking to Sky News’ Dominic Waghorn, actor and comedian Eline Van der Velden – who founded Particle6 – insisted Norwood is “not meant to take jobs in the traditional film”.

AI entertainment is “developing as a completely separate genre”, she said, adding: “And that’s where Tilly is meant to stay. She’s meant to stay in the AI genre and be a star in that.”

“I don’t want her to take real actors’ jobs,” she continued. “I wanted to have her own creative path.”

Norwood has been labelled “really, really scary” by Mary Poppins Returns star Emily Blunt, while the US actors’ union SAG-AFTRA said in a statement: “Tilly Norwood is not an actor, it’s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers – without permission or compensation.”

Responding to the criticism, Ms Van der Velden argued that Hollywood is “going to have to learn how to work with [AI] going forward”.

“We can’t stop it,” she said. “If we put our head in the sand, then our jobs will be gone. However, instead, if we learn how to use these tools, if we use it going forward, especially in Britain, we can be that creative powerhouse.”

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Ms Van der Velden said her studio has already helped a number of projects that were struggling due to budget constraints.

“Some productions get stuck, not able to find the last 30% of their budget, and so they don’t go into production,” she said. “Now with AI, by replacing some of the shots […] we can actually get that production going and working. So as a result, we get more jobs, we get more actors working, so that’s all really, really positive news.”