Dame Judi Dench lands TV special
Dame Judi Dench is to front a new TV special for Sky Arts in which she will invite her longtime friend and co-star Sir Kenneth Branagh into her home for a chat about their careers.
Dame Judi Dench is to front a new TV special for Sky Arts.
The James Bond star, 90, will invite her longtime friend and co-star Sir Kenneth Branagh into her home to look back on their careers in a new show which has been given the working title Drinks with Dame Judi.
The project was unveiled at the Edinburgh TV Festival and Phil Edgar-Jones, executive director of unscripted at Sky, explained he is hoping the one-off special will turn into a series.
According to the Daily Mail, he said: "We are starting a series, I hope, with Judi Dench. It was going to be called Champagne with Judi but Compliance said no.
"The first one she is going to do with Kenneth Branagh."
The show's official synopsis from Sky reads: "Dame Judi Dench opens up her beautiful country home to longtime friend and sometime collaborator, Kenneth Branagh, in one-off special, Drinks with Dame Judi (w/t).
"From the sanctuary of her English country garden, they’ll talk about their lives and careers. Peppered with archive and anecdote, the programme will provide personal biography and career highlights, along with lively conversation, funny insights and genuine candour and emotion."
As well as sharing the stage together, Judi and Kenneth have also co-starred in movies including Murder on the Orient Express, All Is True and Belfast.
Drinks with Dame Judi has yet to be given a broadcast date, but it's expected to air later this year.
It comes after Judi recently declared she feels eternally grateful for her acting career, telling My Weekly magazine: "I feel very lucky to be part of the two per cent of people who wanted to do something and were able to make a living at it.
"I never cease to be grateful of the fact that I am able to do a job that I really love – I never got over that. I think the key to happiness is gratitude."
Judi's ability to work has been limited by the macular degeneration that has badly affected her eyesight, although she remains "in love with life".
She said: "Be thankful for what you have, and you'll find abundance in every aspect of your life. I'm in love with life even though it is a beautiful mess – but that's what makes it so incredible."
Judi is widely seen as a national treasure in Britain but she jokingly sees the title in another way. She said: "It's dusty and dreary. It's like I've been picked up and put inside a little glass-fronted cabinet. Then they've locked the door so I can't get out."
