Judi Dench was 'warned by M&S manager' not to shoplift after Tracey Ullman kleptomaniac sketch

Virgin Radio

28 Feb 2022, 17:14

How awkward is this? The acting legend was given a talking while out shopping following the comedian's impression of the national treasure as a shoplifter in her 2016 show.

Ullman revealed on the Tea with Twiggy podcast how she had sent apology gifts to the award-winning star after her in-store ticking off.

Tracey explained about the show: "It was just fun. Then the Judi Dench called me and said 'I've been having a problem in Marks and Spencer's'. She said the store manager had said to her 'I'm watching you'.

"Like she was really going to steal stuff so I felt a bit bad so I said to Judi a big, big, big, big thank you for letting me steal her persona and use it on my show.

"I sent her a nice present, I sent her some nice pottery and she said 'I got the presents and the pottery I swiftly smashed' like pretending she was being naughty but she was such a good sport about it."

She added: "How would I have called Judi and said 'Judi, I'm going to portray you as a kleptomaniac'. It wouldn't have gone down that well."

She continued: "When I was Judi Dench in Richmond [London] when we were filming my BBC show and I took my lunch hour and I decided to go and look into the shops as Judi.

"And people were just like, 'oh we loved you in the Bond films'.

"Sometimes people look at the make-up and go 'oh that's weird, there's a bit of glue on her head' and some people don't look at it at all.

"So I went shopping in Margaret Howell as Judi Dench and that was just so much fun because the two people in the shop really believed I was Judi Dench and I just got such a kick out of it."