Lenny Henry to host Olivier Awards

Lenny Henry will host this year's Olivier Awards, which take place at the Royal Opera House on 12 April 2015.

Henry has won acclaim for stage roles in Othello, The Comedy of Errors and Fences, and is soon to be seen in Educating Rita at Chichester.

Tonight he will again be on hosting duties for Comic Relief, which he has been involved with since its inception.

Nominees for this year's Oliviers include musicals Memphis and Beautiful, which lead the shortlists with nine and eight nominations respectively.

The Young Vic Theatre is the venue with the most nominations, receiving 11 for shows including A Streetcar Named Desire, A View from the Bridge, The Scottsboro Boys and Bull.

Hampstead Theatre has seven nods, primarily for Sunny Afternoon, while the Donmar claims six for its revivals of My Night with Reg and City of Angels.

The acting categories include Angela Lansbury, Nicole Scherzinger, Mark Strong, Gillian Anderson and James McAvoy.