Skyfall actress Judi Dench, 86, receives COVID-19 vaccine

Follow us on

Veteran actor Judi Dench on Thursday said she has received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine. The 86-year-old star said she was vaccinated "a week ago", adding she will have her next dose in a few months. "I have (had the coronavirus vaccine). I had one a week ago so I think my next is something like 11 weeks'' time, that''s a great start!" Dench told BBC News.

Last year, the "Skyfall" star spent a lot of her time in quarantine featuring on her 23-year-old grandson Sam Williams'' Tik Tok page, with the duo participating in a number of socially distanced and virtual dances.

Dench, who shot a film for her "Murder on the Orient Express" director Kenneth Branagh during the coronavirus pandemic, said it was a "huge relief" to work amid these testing times.

"I was going to film something which has been postponed. I was, during this time, able to film with Kenneth Branagh, who wrote and directed a film about his childhood in Belfast... We were all incredible lines to each other, taking every precaution.

"Everybody wore masks and everything. So we were well looked after. It was a huge relief to do something and it was exciting too at that time. Otherwise you wake up and think, ''What is the thing I will do today'' and try to get something done," the actor added.

She joins famous names like naturalist-broadcaster David Attenborough (94), actors Joan Collins (87), Brian Blessed (84), Ian McKellen (81) and singer Tom Jones (80) who have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Frontline health and social care workers and the elderly are among the first to receive the vaccine in the country.

There are currently three vaccines approved for administration in the UK - Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.