Judi Dench says she is ‘unable to perform on stage or read’ due to eye condition

Dame Judi Dench has revealed she can no longer act on stage or screen, or even read due to a degenerative eye condition.

The Oscar-winning actress, 91, has been living with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) since 2012, which has progressively affected her sight.

It has also made it difficult for Dame Judi to recognise faces, sometimes leading to awkward encounters.

Speaking to Emma Barnett on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she said: ‘I can’t be on stage. I can’t do a play anymore. I can’t do a film anymore. I can’t read anymore.’

She explained that she has occasionally approached the wrong person and gone to give them ‘an almost hug’ before realising her mistake.

Asked about getting older, she said: ‘There’s nothing to say for it at all. [I] don’t think about it too much.’

Dame Judi has enjoyed a career spanning more than seven decades, and is one of Britain’s most celebrated actors across theatre, television and film.

She won an Academy Award for best supporting actress for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love in 1999.

She is also widely known for playing M, the head of MI6 in the James Bond films, making her debut in GoldenEye in 1995 as the first woman to take on the role.

The 91-year-old has continued to make public appearances and speak openly about her life while she adapts to sight loss.

She has also highlighted the importance of audio in her life, saying: ‘The radio has always been important to me.’

This comes after it was revealed earlier this week that Dame Judi has never subjected herself to watching the ‘final cut’ of Cats.

In the actress’ upcoming memoir, she described the much-maligned Cats movie as a ‘waste of goodwill and talent’.

Titled Is It Too Late to Make a Run For It?, Dame Judi discusses her role in Tom Hopper’s 2019 Cats adaptation, where she played Old Deuteronomy.

‘Oh God, I can’t bear it!’ Dame Judi wrote. She also recalled how Andrew Lloyd Webber had waited ‘so long for it to be made’, but the film still ended up a disaster.

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