Dame Judi Dench unveils the reasons for her love of trees in new documentary
DAME Judi Dench shares her love of woodlands in a brand new BBC1 documentary.
When a friend or relative died, Judi Dench and her late husband, the actor Michael Williams, had a touching way of commemorating them – they would plant a tree in their loved one’s honour at their Surrey home.
There are trees in memory of Judi’s brother Jeffrey, who died in 2014, the actors Natasha Richardson, Robert Hardy, Ian Richardson (from the original House Of Cards) and of Michael, who died in 2001.
“It’s about remembering and it’s something that’s living that goes on,” explains Judi, 82, of her tree-planting following bereavements.
“You don’t remember them and stop; you remember them and the memory goes on and gets more wonderful.”
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It’s part of Judi’s lifelong obsession with trees and woodland, which she shares in a new BBC1 documentary, Judi Dench: My Passion For Trees.
It sees the Oscar-winning actress takes us around the personal woodland she’s nurtured for three decades.
And, with the help of experts sharing the latest scientific research, Judi finds out how trees respond to each of the seasons.
“Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve adored trees,” says Judi, who grew up in York.
“I’ve turned my garden into a secret woodland and I think of my trees as part of my extended family. But I have always suspected that there is much more to these beautiful, magical beings.”
And she’s surrounded by them – Surrey is the most wooded county in England.
I’ve turned my garden into a secret woodland and I think of my trees as part of my extended family
Also featured in the documentary is Judi’s partner of seven years, the conservationist David Mills, who runs the British Wildlife Centre in Lingfield, Surrey. They bonded over their love of flora and fauna.
“When it’s freezing outside, there’s nothing I like better than sitting in the warmth with my chap, David,” says Judi.
“He has devoted his life to nature and conservation. He shares my passion for trees.”
One of Judi’s other big loves is Shakespeare – she’s performed in 30 Shakespeare plays in her 60-year career – not least because of his love of nature, too. Throughout the documentary she recites some of his sonnets connected to nature and the seasons, and examines how nature features in his plays.
“I’m besotted with Shakespeare and it’s so clear to me that the woods was central to his life and work,” says Judi.
“Since I was a little girl and was taken to see my brothers in Shakespeare at St Peter’s School in York, that’s all I ever wanted to do – to be in those plays and learn as much as I could about them and about him.”
She discovers, in conversation with Shakespeare expert Dr Charlotte Scott, that the Bard brought all his knowledge of rural England to his plays.
For example, Shakespeare incorporated the woods into characters’ story arcs – Orlando in As You Like It, for example, professes his love for Rosalind by pinning love poems to trees in the Forest of Arden.
Judi’s favourite tree in her garden is a mighty oak, which, she discovers by measuring its girth, is about 200 years old: every inch equals a year in age.
She learns that the oak’s 12 kilometres of branches soak up an enormous amount of harmful carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Judi is overwhelmed when, thanks to a sort of heart monitor-type device devised by a scientist, she gets to listen to her oak tree’s inner rumblings. She can hear the sound of some of the 200 litres of water a day her oak ‘drinks’, pulling water up from the tree’s roots to the leaves.
“I shall never be able to walk quite so nonchalantly through a woodland again without thinking of all that incredible work that’s going on underneath,” smiles Judi.
Judi Dench: My Passion for Trees, Wednesday, 8pm, BBC 1.