Judi Dench

Dame Judi Dench has hit out at the treatment of older people in Britain – hinting she has no plan at all to stop working.

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The 77-year-old actress does not understand the word ‘retirement,’ she told the Radio Times.

The actress is famous for her work as ‘M’ in six James Bond films and is reprising the role for the latest instalment, Skyfall.

“We’re not good at dealing with old age in this country. We shove people in a room and leave them sitting round a television,” Dame Judi said.

“We didn’t do that in our family - shove people into a nursing home.”

Dame Judi revealed that she and her late husband, the actor Michael Williams, who died in Hampstead in 2001, had his parents and the actress’s widowed mother living with them for 12 years.

“It was ideal, and the alternative is not good in my opinion. You learn such a lot from the generation above you,” she added.

“My daughter has lovely memories of that time and now talks about her grandparents with great fondness, as do I.”

Dame Judi is starring in the film, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which is about a group of retired people taking up residence in India with Love Actually actor Bill Nighy.

“It’s unusual to see a film about older people,” Nighy said.

“The way the elderly are treated, and in some cases warehoused and medicated, rather than nurtured and listened to, is distressing.

“The fact that they pay taxes all of their lives and then are expected to give all of their savings to maintain themselves should they need assistance is absolutely disgraceful and one of the great scandals of our society.”