Dame Judi Dench says sight loss means she can no longer play, film or read anymore

Sight loss changes her work

Dench told Emma Barnett on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that her deteriorating vision prevents her from performing on stage, making films and reading. She was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration in 2012.

She said recognising faces had become extremely difficult. At times, she approaches the wrong person and nearly hugs them before realising her mistake. Dench has previously spoken about struggling to see on film sets and finding it difficult to learn scripts. She continues to make public appearances and has said radio has long mattered to her.

A career across seven decades

She became internationally known as “M,” James Bond’s boss, first playing the character in GoldenEye in 1995. She was the first woman to take the role. Asked who should play the next Bond, Dench said she had no view.

Stories from her life

Dench recalled a lunch invitation from former MI6 chief Sir David Spedding. A car sent to collect her arrived about 20 minutes late because its driver struggled to find her home; she said she enjoyed the experience.

She also remembered meeting Sidney Poitier backstage in New York, where she was performing in Amy’s View. Director Richard Eyre was in her dressing room when Poitier entered, and Dench described the moment as thrilling.

Her love of Shakespeare began when she was nine and watched her brother play King Duncan in Macbeth. She also spoke warmly of the rhythm and feeling in Shakespeare’s sonnets.