Judi Dench opens up on 'ghastly' impact of eyesight loss on acting career

Judi Dench is having a hard time coming to terms with the consequences of her deteriorating eyesight.

Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, the Oscar winner revealed that she is unable to see on a film set, making it difficult for her to read scripts or interact with other people in general.

Describing it as the "most terrible shock to the system," Dench expressed: "Ghastly. It’s terrible to be so dependent on people."

"I mean I can’t see on a film set any more," the actress told the publication. "And I can’t see to read. So I can’t see much. But you know you just deal with it. Get on. It’s difficult for me if I have any length of a part."

"I haven’t yet found a way. Because I have so many friends who will teach me the script. But I have a photographic memory," added Dench.

In a conversation with a London sight-loss charity, Vision Foundation, in 2021, the Skyfall actress explained that she memorizes scripts by asking her close friends to read them aloud to her.

"You find a way of just getting about and getting over the things that you find very difficult," Dench said at the time. "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!" the Belfast actress shared.