Forgive us for this British TMZ moment
This one was just too good to pass up. Let me just say this upfront. Dame Judi Dench is the most amazing person on the planet. She’s played two Queen’s, is James Bond’s boss, M, won an Oscar, ten BAFTA’s, two Golden Globes, a Tony and, oh yeah, she was in 67 episodes of As Time Goes By, a staple of the public television British comedy line-up since the mid-90’s. She’s also, without question, the most down-to-earth, person you’d most like to have a drink with, individual that you can imagine.
Doing nothing to alter my belief, it seems that during the recent filming of Cranford 2, Ms. Dench needed to visit the dentist, but did not have time to change out of her 1840’s period costume. No big deal. Just finish the scene, pick up and go to the dentist, replace the crown and be back in time for the next scene. Only issue, it seems, was trying to convince the dentist that she was actually working. Have to say, don’t think that would be a hard sell, given the costume and wig.
Reminds me of a time roughly ten years ago when we were fortunate enough to be able to interview Ms. Dench regarding As Time Goes By. Our first interview ever and it was with someone with miles and miles of street cred. When arriving at 10:15a for a 10:30a interview in London, Ms. Dench commented that she didn’t realize it was a “television” interview, but thought it was for “radio”. When we offered her the opportunity to re-schedule, her comment was that it was no big deal, she would be happy to do whatever we needed. BTW, fittingly, she was also the only one of 15 interviews we did over the course of a week who drove herself to the hotel and didn’t need to be picked up.
All I can say is….thank you.
p.s. Cranford will be seen over the holidays in the UK and will be coming to PBS stations nationwide in 2010 on Masterpiece Classic along with Jane Austen’s Emma starring Michael Gambon and Jonny Lee Miller.
