Beloved British actress Dame Judi Dench opened up about her late husband on a television show aired by Channel Four in the United Kingdom recently. The world-famous actress appeared alongside British TV presenter Jay Blades in an episode of “The Odd Couple,” in which they talked about a variety of things, including their own personal experiences.
Dench was overcome with emotion during the show, during which they visited an old house in which she used to live. The 89-year-old actress described how she met actor Michael Williams in 1971, before welcoming their daughter into the world the year later. Michael sadly passed away in 2001, aged just 65.
The home Dench visited was where she spent most of the 1970s and 1980s, in the village of Charlecote. Dench said that she hadn’t been back to the town since she left in 1984, and recognized from the start that it would be a difficult journey.
As the pair pulled up in the driveway of the old English mansion, Judi began to tear up and clutched her scarf as she said “this is hard.”
The pair explored the home, during which she described how ordeal when her husband slowly died of lung cancer. Dench found a new love, David Mills, in 2010 and has been in a relationship with him since – but the actress still said that she doesn’t think she’s ever truly gotten over the death of her husband.
The show, which aired last week, received generally positive reviews over the weekend. The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan said that the emergence of the show was inevitable after Dench appeared on an episode of “The Repair Shop,” a program hosted by Blades in which he restores antique furniture and other items, and became good friends with the host. Dench is 89 years old and Blades is 54 – and as the show states, they make an “odd couple.”
If you’re interested in learning more about life in the United Kingdom from two fascinating people, this might be a show worth looking into tonight…
