Judi Dench and Jay Blades Rumoured TV Show
Dame Judi Dench and The Repair Shop’s Jay Blades are reportedly filming a new Channel 4 show together with a “fly-on-the-wall” approach, working title Judi Dench and Jay.
The new show would be a heart-warming reuniting of the pair, following Dame Judi Dench’s appearance on The Repair Shop in 2022. They formed a close bond after Jay Blades MBE helped fix a watch belonging to the actress’s late husband Michael Williams.
The Mirror online reports that Hungry Bear productions, founded by Holly Willoughby’s husband Dan Baldwin, will be producing the show. This follows the success of Hungry Bear’s three-part series also starring the presenter, Jay Blades: The West Midlands Through Time.
The pair had viewers in tears when Judi brought the watch to The Repair Shop team, wishing to hear it tick again. The Hollywood starlet had originally gifted the watch to her husband in 1972. They were married for three decades before Michael died of lung cancer in 2001.
Judi Dench was then presented with the repaired piece in a live fifth anniversary session of The Repair Shop. She seemed emotional and deemed the repair was “sublime”.
Judy Dench and Jay appear to be friends following a number of joint TV appearances
The actress had initially appeared on The Repair Shop for a comic relief sketch where she jokingly fangirled over meeting the presenter. This was before returning on a serious note with her own repair job.
And at the end of last year, Jay Blades shared a picture online of himself and Dame Judi with the caption: “Good morning all. Sometimes in life you meet people that make you feel so proud because of their Achievements, Grace, Presence and of course Manners. I just want to say thank you to everyone I’ve met and who is in my life right now. You know who you are.”
Judi Dench and Jay then appeared together again on The Graham Norton Show. The Dame impressed with an impromptu recital of a Shakespeare sonnet. While Jay Blades candidly discussed men’s mental health and his own battle with mental illness, which he details in his new book Making It.
Dame Judi has revealed that she “dotes” on The Repair Shop presenter. When asked about the show in an interview with Gyles Brandreth during a Christmas edition of I Remember It Well, she said: “I do watch it [The Repair Shop]. I dote on Jay Blades. What are Jay’s qualities? Have you got a week or two? We are huge fans of The Repair Shop.
“I can’t resist seeing people making things and I like mending things to the state that people recognise that it is theirs. So it does not look brand new but the state when they first had it.”
Although, it’s unclear what exactly a show together would entail, we think Judy Dench and Jay would make a wonderful TV duo. Oh to be a fly-on-the-wall, listening in on a conversation between two such knowledgeable national treasures. This show might just make that happen…
We would love to see more of Dame Judi Dench on our TV screens! What do you think?
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Hannah McLaren
I've worked at DC Thomson for six years! I began as an intern at My Weekly and The Scots Magazine, which was extended by a few months to help out at The People's Friend. I then covered maternity as Celebrity Editor for My Weekly, before I became Multimedia Journalist at The Scots Magazine. Currently I'm writing digital content across each title.
