Take one eightysomething, Oscar-winning national treasure. Add the exceedingly likeable presenter of one of the best-loved and most tear-jerking shows on television, who just so happens to be great friends with said national treasure. Let this pair amble around the places that mean the most to them, and open up about themselves in the process. This is the very successful recipe for Dame Judi and Jay: The Odd Couple, the one-off sort-of travelogue that aired on Channel 4 on Sunday evening, charming viewers in droves (and yes, prompting some of us to have a little cry, too).
Dench, 89, and Blades, 54, are the double act we didn’t know we needed, a bright spot in a summer TV schedule that has felt distinctly lacklustre, bar a brief dose of Olympic excitement. On paper, the veteran actor and the host of The Repair Shop have very little in common. Dench made her professional stage debut in Hamlet at the age of 22 and soon became one of the most celebrated Shakespearean performers of her generation. Blades, meanwhile, was born in the year that Dench received her OBE. He was written off as a troublemaker and faced racism at school, which he eventually left without any qualifications; he found fame later in life and largely by accident, after TV producers became interested in his charity work teaching young people how to renovate old furniture.
Despite their very different backgrounds and life stories, though, the duo struck up a friendship when Dench was invited to appear on a special episode of The Repair Shop a few years back (she brought along a broken pocket watch, given to her by her beloved late husband Michael Williams – cue a tearful reveal when Blades and his talented colleagues managed to give it a new lease of life). Their closeness is obvious from the first moments of The Odd Couple, when Blades arrives at the actor’s Surrey farmhouse (you might recognise it from her interview with Louis Theroux) and cheerfully shouts “Hello gorgeous!” by way of greeting “the Dame”, as he fondly refers to her. Soon he is marvelling at the weight of her gold Oscar statuette – and the fact that his Repair Shop book is conveniently on display next to it.
As enjoyable as it might have been to just let the camera run as the pair catch up and trade stories and gentle jokes – “I’m amazed we can hear each other, he’s so tall,” the diminutive Dench chuckles about her pal, who stands at 6ft 3in tall – they do have some business to attend to over the course of the hour-long show. They’ve decided (and/or been instructed by their production company) to revisit some of the places that mean the most to them, so they can each learn more about the other’s back story. Soon Judi’n’Jay are selling plantain at Ridley Road market, which he’d visit with his mum as a child, and learning how to scratch and mix records from a DJ pal. Then, they’re heading to the Stratford-upon-Avon pub that Dench would frequent with Williams when they were performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Of course, the concept of two famous people going off on a televised jaunt is nothing new. In fact, we seem to have reached peak celeb travelogue recently. TV commissioners have been despatching pairs of light entertainers to various tourist hotspots with chaotic abandon, and there are now few European countries that haven’t recently played host to a pair of mildly famous, usually male comedians. But the focus tends to be on tedious banter and hijinks rather than deep connections (be that with the other celeb or the places they visit). In The Odd Couple, every stop on their itinerary is also an excuse for Blades and Dench to share memories and unlock the sorts of meaningful conversations that might not usually flow authentically while the cameras are on.
What’s particularly striking about their pairing is the fact that neither seems to be mugging for the camera or jostling to make themselves the main focus. Dench takes Blades to the Old Vic, where she made her stage debut all those years ago, and recites a Shakespeare sonnet on stage, to much applause from her friend. It’s followed by an equally moving moment when Blades, who learnt to read just a few years ago after struggling with dyslexia all his life, performs a passage from Hamlet, with a few low-key pointers from Dench, who seems to know exactly how best to let her pal shine. Later, when they visit Dench’s old family home in Warwickshire, Blades provides her with unobtrusive emotional support. And he’s clearly affected by the strength of Dench’s feelings for her late husband: “Everybody should be finding a love like that,” he says quietly to the camera after they visit Williams’s grave. It’s an especially poignant moment given that Blades seems to have been through a tough period in his personal life recently: earlier this year, his wife announced she was leaving him, then the death of his uncle reportedly prompted him to take a step back from filming The Repair Shop.
They might not travel very far in practical terms, but their trip is an emotional odyssey. It’s very clear that they delight in one another’s company, and seeing that joy play out on screen is like a dose of serotonin. It’s also a reminder that connection can arise in unexpected circumstances, between people who, at first glance, couldn’t seem more different – that friendships can be surprising and wonderful at any age.