Do we like Judi Dench?
Our score: 7 out of 10. She has a clean record on harm and some real good, but her public forgiveness of Harvey Weinstein and warm words for Kevin Spacey cost her.
The scandal that follows her around isn't hers, it's her mates'. In 2019 she told the Radio Times that you can't deny somebody a talent, and that you might as well never look at a Caravaggio. She was upset about how Kevin Spacey was treated. She also condemned the alleged behaviour of Spacey and Harvey Weinstein, and was one of the first stars to publicly denounce Weinstein.
Then in December 2025 she went further, and that's where she cop it. Speaking to the Radio Times, she said she imagined Weinstein had done his time and that forgiveness was personal. Weinstein was found guilty of rape and sexual assault in 2023. She also said she and Spacey text, and that he'd been “exonerated”. A jury cleared Spacey of sexual assault charges in 2023, and he denies the other allegations. Weinstein's spokesperson said he was grateful for the kind words.
Plenty of people weren't grateful. Social media users, mainly on X, called it a stain on her legacy, and the NME reported no response from Dench. She did say she had none of that experience with Weinstein herself. Where you land depends on whether you read it as a personal act of forgiveness from an old friend, or as a blind spot about victims.
The new stoush is smaller. In a Times excerpt from her memoir, she said that if you're that sensitive, don't go to the theatre. She also said strobe and gunshot warnings are reasonable, and that she wants to be provoked and disturbed. That's a grumpy old-school take on the arts. It isn't aimed at any group of people.
On the harm test, there's nothing nasty on the record. In August 2026 she sat down with Sir Ian McKellen for Sky's Tea With Judi Dench and said nobody should ever feel they can't intrinsically be themselves. I found no campaigning against trans people, no conspiracy theories and no dodgy company beyond the two mates above. The record is thin on her views of women's rights, so that's the gap.
So: a lovely public record and a loyalty that looks tone-deaf. One lapse of judgement about two friends isn't a pattern of cruelty, but she's not a pure pass either. We'd still support her, with a raised eyebrow.