Oscar winner Judi Dench says age-related eye disease has left her unable to act or read

Oscar-winning actress Judi Dench has said she can no longer act in films, perform on stage or read due to progressive age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a chronic eye disease that damages the part of the retina responsible for sharp central vision.

“I can’t be on stage. I can’t do a play anymore. I can’t do a film anymore. I can’t read anymore,” Dench told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

The 91-year-old actress was diagnosed with AMD in 2012, when she was 77, after noticing that reading scripts had become increasingly difficult.

AMD causes gradual damage to the macula, the central part of the retina that enables clear, straight-ahead vision.

When asked how she viewed the process, Dench said, “there’s nothing to say for it at all. (I) don't think about it too much”.

Dench, one of Britain’s most celebrated actors, has appeared in films such as Philomena, the James Bond franchise and Shakespeare in Love, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Her career has also spanned decades of theatre, beginning with her stage debut as Ophelia in Hamlet in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. She has received multiple Laurence Olivier Awards for her work in British theatre.

Her last film appearance was in The Magic Faraway Tree, based on Enid Blyton’s novels. Dench voiced a technologically advanced, intelligent refrigerator designed by Polly Thompson in the film, which also featured Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy and Nicola Coughlan, among others.