Last year Dame Judi Dench discovered something extraordinary about her family; one of life’s connections that can throw a person. It was during her turn on the BBC ancestry show Who Do You Think You Are?. As the episode glides along, it delves into detail about a war injury Dench’s father had in his knee, which explains a limp his daughter never fully understood. It also explores her mother’s family in Ireland. Dench is delighted throughout the filming. “Well, who wouldn’t be?” Then she goes to Denmark. And things get weird.
“The BBC do not tell you anything,” she explains breathlessly. She remains thrilled by the show months on. “You don’t even know if you need your passport. You give them a bit of