Louis Theroux accidentally offended Dame Judi Dench with one of his interview questions.
The documentarian sat down with the Oscar-winning actor for an episode of his BBC series Louis Theroux Interviews, which aired on Tuesday (1 November).
The actor told Theroux that she owned 17 cats during the war, Theroux replied: “During which war?”
Dench, 87, said: “Well, the Second World War. Louis!”
The Belfast star jokingly told off Theroux, 52, for implying that she could have been alive during the First World War (1914 - 1918).
“Am I the only person who heard that? ‘Which war?’” she quipped.
Theroux laughed and quickly tried to defend himself, saying: “I thought you meant the Vietnam war.”
“Oh. No, the Second World War,” Dench laughed.
During the interview, the actor also opened up about her career and admitted “there are so many films that I’ve done that I’ve never seen”.
This includes the 2011 biopic J Edgar, directed by Clint Eastwood.
On working with Eastwood, Dench said: “[He] is the most laidback man I have ever met. You start at nine, you finish at four”.
Dench also showed Theroux around the garden of “memorial trees” she planted throughout the grounds of her Surrey home, with different trees dedicated to dead actors such as Alan Rickman, Helen McCrory, and Natasha Richardson.
She also dedicated a tree to husband Michael Williams, who died in 2001 of lung cancer, which is simply labelled “Mike”.
Dench said: “There’s Mikey. It’s a lovely tree, he liked it very much. We didn’t plant that one, that was here. It seems only right, as he found the house. I like that.”
The first episode of Louis Theroux Interviews aired on Tuesday (25 October), during which he sat down with rapper Stormzy.
You can read The Independent’s review of the episode here.
Louis Theroux Interviews continues Tuesday 1 November at 9.15pm on BBC Two.
