The actor, who was diagnosed with macular degeneration in 2012, has also struggled to see on film sets and learn lines having done so thanks to a photographic memory

Judi Dench has said she can no longer attend events or go out alone due to her deteriorating eyesight, saying she now needs someone to “always be with me”.

In 2012, Dench first revealed a diagnosis of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the degenerative eye condition that is the biggest cause of sight loss in the UK, affecting more than 700,000 people.