Dame this old age! SHAKEN JUDI'S WAKE-UP CALL

She loves her independence, but living alone is getting harder for the star

- Judy Kean

At 87, Dame Judi Dench is still working and doing a brilliant job too – she’s just been nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, making her the oldest person to be up for that award.

But the beloved star admits that age is catching up with her and a “frightful fall” she suffered recently was a reminder of how difficult it is to stay independent.

Judi revealed details of the nasty accident while doing publicity for the film Belfast, for which she has been Oscar-nominated. “I tripped over the carpet and there was nobody in the house, and I was lying on the ground unable to get up for half an hour,” she recounts.

Although it was very scary at the time, she’s able to make light of it now. “I have a wonderful parrot who kept saying, ‘What are you doing? What are you doing?’ This is when you need a very convenient parrot who would phone somebody – but she didn’t.”

Judi lives on her own – her partner, conservationist David Mills, 77, has his own home 7km away – and couldn’t get to a phone to call him or her daughter Finty Williams, who also lives nearby. “After half an hour, I just got up,” she says.

She’s fine now, but says the incident made her think about the impact her age is having. “It’s just something you have to live with. You want to be independent, but it’s very, very difficult.”