Advertisement

Nothing Like a Dame clip: Judi Dench on why she won't be planning her own funeral

Four of British theatre's most celebrated actresses – Dames Joan Plowright, Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith – are united on screen for the first time in a new film, There's Nothing Like a Dame.

The four friends often meet up at Plowright's beautiful home in Sussex, and in this new fly-on-the-wall documentary audiences can be part of their witty conversation, as they look back over their much-garlanded careers. But in an exclusive new clip from the film, they're looking to the future – and, more specifically, the subject of death. 

According to Maggie Smith, Miriam Margolyes has already made extensive arrangements for her own funeral. But Judi Dench won't be following her example. Why not? "Because I'm not going to die."

Directed by Roger Michell (Notting Hill, My Cousin Rachel), the film was described as "charming" by Telegraph critic Tristram Fane Saunders in a four-star review, praising the film's use of "scintillating archive material" – including rarely-seen footage of some of Dench's earliest performances.

Nothing Like a Dame premieres in cinemas nationwide on May 2 with a special introduction from Joan Plowright, before a limited release on May 4. Tickets and information; nothinglikeadame.film