Dame Judi Dench, the legendary actress, and television presenter Jay Blades have embarked on a unique journey together for a new one-off documentary, The Odd Couple. The pair first met three years ago when Judi appeared on The Repair Shop, hoping the skilled restorers could restore a pocket watch that belonged to her late husband Michael Williams. During the new show, Judi took Jay to her late husband’s grave in a heartbreaking moment.
The idea for the show came from Judi’s daughter Finty, who during a conversation with Jay suggested he work with her mother. “We were chatting, I just wanted to see how her mother was doing,” recalls Jay, 54. “She said, ‘Mum would love to work with you.’ And I said, ‘I’d love to work with her.’ ‘Think of some ideas, Jay,’ she said. So I did and we started thinking about places we could go together – places that are close to her heart and places that are close to my heart.”
One of the places Judi takes Jay to in the documentary is the Old Vic theatre in London, where she has performed in numerous stage productions over the years. “Jay had never been to a London theatre before, so we chose the Old Vic as I spent the first four years of my career there,” she explains. “It was a very emotional place to revisit and I think Jay shared a lot of the same feelings.”
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Jay spoke about his battle with dyslexia and recounted the nerve-wracking moment when he had to read Shakespeare to acting legend Judi Dench in the theater. It was a huge challenge for him because, as he revealed in his 2021 BBC documentary Learning to Read at 51, reading aloud is not his strong suit.
“It was intimidating and scary because I don’t read aloud. I don’t do that, but when she was doing things she hadn’t done in a long time and testing boundaries, I said, ‘I’m going to do that, too,'” Jay said.
Jay further described the surreal experience: “It was a strange feeling. I’m reading it and I’m in the audience, but she’s the one on stage who knows exactly what words are coming next and I’m trying to read them. It was like having the best teacher you could have in your whole life. It was like going back to school, which is a terrible experience for me, but with Dame Judi it was magic – absolute magic.”
The trip also took them to Stratford-upon-Avon, which brought back fond memories for Judi. She spoke of the wonderful times she spent there with her family: “Stratford-upon-Avon was an exceptionally happy time of my life with Michael, Finty, my mother and Michael’s parents, where we all lived for many years and it was very dear to our hearts,” said the experienced actress fondly.
And there, Judi shared an intimate moment with Jay as they visited the grave of her late husband Michael.
“Putting flowers and a heart on Michael’s grave was like ‘wow,'” Jay said. “It was a moment we shared. And I’m very happy the cameras were there because some scenes don’t need words, you can just feel and see the emotions.”
He also took her to a special place, the youth club he used to run. “It was important that the lady understood where I came from. The reason is because not many people like me who come from that area make it in a successful way,” he explained. “To take the lady back there and make her understand, you can see (especially in that scene), and it’s like ‘Wow’! It’s really, really impressive… really impressive.”
For Judi, filming with Jay was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and when she talks about him, she speaks of “the joy of finding someone you know will be a friend for the rest of your life.”
Jay echoes this sentiment, noting that this is the essence of the documentary. “The reason people should watch this documentary is because it really makes them value old friendships and new friendships that they can make. That’s why they should watch it, because it’s about friendships,” he suggests.
He also reveals that one of the best days during filming was the day he visited Judi at home and she made him a cup of tea.
“The cup of tea was lovely. And I’m a tea connoisseur, the lady makes a wonderful cup of tea,” he enthuses. “And she has an obscene number of cups. I’ve been there before and we opened this cupboard and the simplest way to put it is: with the number of cups she has in this kitchen, she could open a cafe. It’s unbelievable.”
Dame Judi and Jay: The Odd Couple airs Sunday 18 August at 9pm on Channel 4.
