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Dame Judi Dench, 91, says failing eyesight means she can no longer act on stage or screen, or even read

Dame Judi Dench, who writes in her new memoir that young dancers were left exhausted and "completely ignored" after each take on the set of *Cats*.
Dame Judi Dench, who writes in her new memoir that young dancers were left exhausted and "completely ignored" after each take on the set of *Cats*.

Dame Judi Dench told Emma Barnett on BBC Radio 4's Today programme that she could not see the presenter's face 'at all'. The Oscar winner has had age-related macular degeneration since 2012 and says she can no longer read. She sometimes gives strangers 'an almost hug', thinking they are friends. She also missed this summer's bluebells: 'I couldn't see one.'

She was diagnosed in 2012, the same year she played M in Skyfall.

She uses £300 Ray-Ban Meta glasses that read scripts aloud to her.

Her memoir, out on 3 November, calls the Cats film 'a waste of all that goodwill and talent'.

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