Dame Judi Dench in tears after discovering her secret family history

Dame Judi Dench researches her family history in Who Do You Think You Are? |Credit: BBC)

Oscar-winner Judi Dench is a national treasure and has been a favourite on stage and screen in a career that has spanned seven decades. Now Judi,86, who broke the internet during lockdown performing a TikTok dance with her grandson Sam, is taking on her latest challenge.

The British actress has decided to unearth her family history on the BBC show Who Do You Think You Are to learn about her ancestry. Judi, famous for playing many Shakespearean roles on stage, shockingly discovered a link to William Shakespeare himself.

Here she chats about her journey.

Why did you want to take part in the series?

I was asked. And not knowing anything about my Mother's side of the family, I was very interested to find out more. ​​I know that we have the head of a unicorn as our family crest, and I was very interested to find out whether it had a motto below it. During the programme, I found out about two family mottos, but I'm not sure if one of them goes with the unicorn crest. So I would like to find that out.

Did you have any worries when coming onto the show about what you might uncover?

I am sure that investigating anyone's past would have parts that could surprise or even shock you. The work that researchers on the show do is so thorough that there are bound to be some surprises to be found. So, naturally, I was concerned about the possibility of what I might be told.

How emotional did it make you feel to learn more about your father? Did the harrowing experiences you learnt about shape him as a father?

I had known, of course, about his Military Cross and bar, but being told the details and actually seeing a photograph of where it had happened was deeply moving for me. Of course, when you find out things like this, you just wish they were still about and could add their own reminisces. Like so many men who survived the 14-18 war and the Second World War, my father rarely spoke about it. He and my Mother were incredible parents. Both had great senses of humour and always encouraged my brothers and me in whatever we wanted to do. There has always been a great deal of laughter in our family.

How apt/funny was it to learn that the name of the castle where your maternal ancestor was at court had a link to Hamlet?

The Castle was Kronborg Castle and was the Castle of Elsinore in Hamlet, a place I have always wanted to visit and now I have! Not only have I visited it, but I now have a link to it too.

How amazed were you to see so many Shakespeare connections that your maternal ancestor attended performances by a travelling English actor who happened to be one of Shakespeare's favourite players?

I hope my maternal eight times Grandmother liked Shakespeare; otherwise, she might have given the evening a miss. But knowing that Will Kempe visited the castle and presumably performed there does make me feel that I have got a step nearer to my beloved Shakespeare.

Has anything you learnt about your ancestry changed how you look at yourself?

I look in the mirror all the time now and think, "awwww, Scandinavia!"

Did you have any idea at all that your maternal ancestors were connected to royalty – as a lady in waiting in the Danish court? How surprised were you to discover that?

I had no idea about any of that. Or even that we had any Danish connections, but this I have found out is my Mother's family, and now, of course, I want to explore it further. And now I believe there are Swedish connections too; this may prompt a visit there as well.

Who Do You Think You Are? Airs, Tuesday 19th October, BBC One, 9 pm