Judi Dench says she ‘can’t remember what I’m going to do tomorrow’ but she can still read Shakespeare film

Actress Judi Dench has spoken about her worsening eyesight and increasing memory problems, saying she struggles to remember instant dates, but is still able to remember large amounts of Shakespeare.

“I can’t remember what I’m going to do tomorrow, I swear,” she told Radio Times. Then her assistants confirmed that she sometimes needed such help.

Dench added that her age-related macular degeneration now means faces, even up close, are “in a blur.”

“She is devastated,” she added, saying she can no longer watch TV. “I miss seeing Clive Merry playing the mastermind, but I can hear the questions,” she said.

Dench, who turns 91 on Tuesday, is fronting a new documentary about her connection to Shakespeare’s works, and will also see her interviewed by Kenneth Branagh for another programme, which will be broadcast over Christmas.

Dench also said she is in contact with actor Kevin Spacey, who was found not guilty in 2023 of sexually assaulting four men. “Kevin was acquitted, I hear from Kevin, we text,” she said.

Earlier this year, Dench said she now needs full-time assistance when in public, fearing she would “fall” due to her vision problems. In 2012, it first revealed the diagnosis of age-related macular degeneration, a degenerative eye condition that is the biggest cause of sight loss in the UK, affecting more than 700,000 people.

She has attributed this condition to her actual retirement from acting. “I can’t see on a movie set anymore,” she said in 2023, adding: “And I can’t see to read. But you just have to deal with it.”

“It’s hard to have any long part. I haven’t found a way yet. Because I have a lot of friends who will teach me the script.”

Dench’s most recent screen credit was a small role in the Christmas film Spirited in 2022; Earlier that year she had a larger role in Allelujah, Alan Bennett’s adaptation of his play. That same year, she also received her eighth Academy Award nomination for her work in Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast.

However, Dench still makes frequent appearances in public, at charity events including one last month alongside Ian McKellen for the Royal Shakespeare Company. In May, it was sculpted live to aid lymphedema research. She said she won’t be able to see the finished statue, but she will touch it “if they let me.”