Judi Dench says acting has now become impossible for her

Dame Judi Dench has opened up about how her health condition has impacted her career as an actor.

On Friday, 15 February, the icon that is Dame Judi Dench took to the sofa on The Graham Norton Show alongside Hugh Jackman, Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Michael B. Jordan and Eugene Levy.

While discussing her upcoming release Allelujah, Dench opened up about how it's 'become impossible to act' as a result of her macular degeneration.

Macular degeneration is a condition that doesn't cause total blindness, but affects the central part of the vision.

David Betteridge / Alamy Stock Photo

On the BBC chat show, Dench explained her macular degeneration has made it particularly tricky to remember lines.

She said: "It has become impossible and because I have a photographic memory, I need to find a machine that not only teaches me my lines but also tells me where they appear on the page.

"I used to find it very easy to learn lines and remember them. I could do the whole of Twelfth Night right now."

WFPA/ Alamy Stock Photo

Dench has previously opened up about her macular degeneration diagnosis in an interview with Louis Theroux.

The 88-year-old noted despite the impact the diagnosis has on her ability to read a script, she has no plans to retire from the industry just yet.

She said: "I'm not doing much at the moment because I can't see. It's bad. But I've got to teach myself a new way of learning.

"I have a photographic memory so a person saying to me, 'This is your line' . . . I can do that. And I have many people who can help me.

"I'll teach myself a way, I know I will. So long as I don't trip over doing it."

Cheese Scientist/ Alamy Stock Photo

And indeed, Dench has found ways around her macular degeneration.

In an interview with the Vision Foundation, as reported by the Guardian, the actor explained she relies on 'great friends' to help her learn her lines - such as Kenneth Branagh helping her navigate the stage during her long speech at the end of The Winter's Tale.

Dench said: "You find a way of just getting about and getting over the things that you find very difficult.

"I've had to find another way of learning lines and things, which is having great friends of mine repeat them to me over and over and over again. So I have to learn through repetition, and I just hope that people won't notice too much if all the lines are completely hopeless!"

Topics: Celebrity, TV and Film, Health

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.