Dame Judi Dench has revealed she “dotes” on The Repair Shop Mr Fixit Jay Blades.
The 88-year-old had her late husband’s watch repaired in a special live version of the BBC One show.
She said of the hit programme: “I do watch it. I dote on Jay Blades. What are Jay’s qualities? Have you got a week or two? We are huge fans of The Repair Shop.”
She added: “I can’t resist seeing people making things and I like mending things to the state that people recognise that it is theirs. So it does not look brand new but the state when they first had it.”
The Repair Shop team worked on a watch Dame Judi had originally given her husband Michael Williams in 1972. The couple were married for three decades until Michael died 2001. She said after it was restored: “Oh my! That’s sublime. And ticking! How brilliant. I’m full of admiration.”
Dame Judi was speaking at the Garrick Theatre, London, in a Christmas edition of I Remember It Well with Gyles Brandreth.
Offering advice to young actors, she said: “Go and see as much as you can [on stage]. I do think you can learn by watching other actors.”
Earlier this year, Dame Judi was interviewed by Louis Theroux in his latest BBC series, which sees him sit down with some of Britain's most influential stars.
In the chat, Judi revealed she bought her £8 million farmhouse with money earned in a Clover butter advert.
“Suddenly, Michael and I got a Clover butter advertisement that bought this house,” she told Louis.
He jokingly replied: “Because you love it so much?” referencing’s the brand’s famous slogan.
Dame Judi continued: “It was something like 38 years ago.”
Elsewhere in the chat, Dame Judi fought back tears as she discussed her late husband Michael Williams' death in 2001.
While trying to be sensitive in his approach of the topic, Louis asked the Oscar winner: ”You were together from '71 to 2001... Are you OK talking about how it came to an end, how he came to die?”
And although she went on to discuss the painful moments, she was visibly emotional when she initially replied: ”Well he wasn't well... I'm not good at it, actually.”
She continued: ”Yes, he died in 2001 of lung cancer. Smoking you see, all that smoking when we were young. 'I was in New York and they said he was not well. My agent flew out and we came back on Concorde the next day and it aborted take-off.
”We got off and we went back and said: 'Oh, it'll be alright.' We got on another plane and the same thing happened. It was a long old time to get back.
”We got back here and we were all in the house together and that was very, very good indeed.”
