Lesley Manville has admitted that Judi Dench once made her laugh on stage so much she wet herself.
The actors appeared together in a production of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard at the Aldwych Theatre between 1989 and 1990.
Appearing on The Graham Norton Show on Friday (7 October), Manville spoke about her long-standing friendship with the “naughty” Dench.
“We were in The Cherry Orchard and I was on stage on my own and she was in the wings trying to make me laugh,” Manville recalled.
“She was pretending she was being pleasured from behind! I laughed so much I wet myself.”
The actor continued: “Luckily I had a long dress on but the stage was raked and I could see my pee trickling down and over the edge into the stalls. She is so naughty!”
In November, Manville will make her debut as Princess Margaret in the final two seasons of The Crown.
The 66-year-old will take over from Helena Bonham Carter as the Netflix drama heads into the 1990s and the fallout from Prince Charles (Dominic West) and Princess Diana’s (Elizabeth Debicki) divorce.
Her last performance on stage was in a production of Tony Kushner’s The Visit at the National Theatre.
The Graham Norton Show airs Friday 7 October at 10.40pm on BBC One.
