Judi Dench in tears as she witnesses rare wildlife moment in Countryfile special

03 September 2023 , 19:24

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Judi Dench in tears as she witnesses rare wildlife moment in Countryfile special

Dame Judi Dench was left emotional on Sunday's special episode of Countryfile as she witnessed rare golden eagles in the wild in a bucket list moment.

The BBC episode saw Judi, 88, share her love for Scotland as she explored the stunning countryside and later, presenter Hamza Yassin, helped her fulfil a lifetime ambition to see golden eagles in the wild after she only remembered one glimpse of a bird of prey in Scotland years ago.

Philomena star Judi and Strictly Come Dancing winner Hamza, 33, were travelling around in a car to a "secret location" where the latter spotted two golden eagles, one male and one female, soaring out of the mist. Prior to the sighting, Judi said of her past encounter with a bird of prey: "We were on a back road, I was driving and I looked up and there was an eagle. I said to my daughter Finty, ‘You look at the road, I’ll look at the eagle’. I was driving, shameful isn’t it."

Dame Judi Dench was left emotional on Sunday's special episode of Countryfile as she witnessed rare golden eagles in the wild in a bucket list moment (BBC)

Later on the show, the legendary actress, 88, who has a degenerative eye condition and was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in 2012, was able to see rare golden eagles in the wild clearly thanks to the help of wildlife cameraman Hamza. Judi, who used a monitor to help her see two golden eagles flying near a kestrel in the sky, was left overwhelmed over the rare sighting.

Judi, who looked tearful, said: "I could see one and you are a witness to seeing that I saw it… how breathtaking, I’m very overcome… it’s an enormous privilege, don’t you [think]. How often does anybody see that? Not very often."

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The BBC episode saw Judi, 88, share her love for Scotland as she explored the stunning countryside (BBC)

To which Hamza replied: "There’s few people in the UK that can say they’ve seen a golden eagle in the wild… and doing some pretty impressive behaviour." With Judi replying: "How brilliant. And I can keep that [the video] and show it? I never quite thought it would happen. [I believed] well, we’ll go out and we’ll be looking. They won’t [appear]… we saw them… thank you so much."

Elsewhere during the show, Judi's grandson Sam looked at tartan being made for the Bond actress, and her partner David Mills, who created the British Wildlife Centre on his Surrey farm, also appeared. Dame Judi has previously been on Countryfile and in 2016 she took part in a William Shakespeare special to mark 400 years since the playwright’s death.

Olivia Wheeler