Dame Judi Dench admits she ‘wasn’t sad’ about being killed off in iconic James Bond role

Judi Dench recalls filming James Bond

Dame Judi Dench has admitted she had mixed feelings when her James Bond character M was killed off after 20 years in the role.

The Hollywood icon first played the part of the British spy boss in 1995's Goldeneye, which was also Pierce Brosnan's first outing as 007.

During an appearance on beauty guru Trinny Woodall's podcast Fearless, the legendary actress was asked if she was sad when M died. "No, not, very," she confessed.

"Not in a way that I was..." she pondered before acknowledging, "yes, because I'd had such a lovely time." The franchise finally gave Judi an opportunity to work with fellow British acting legend Albert Finney in Skyfall.

Despite both being stars since the 1960s, their paths had never crossed. However, she admitted that their time together was very short.

Jud Dench opened up about her time starring in James Bond (Image: Fearless podcast)

The actor's heart-wrenching death scenes were shot in the heart of Scottland which were largely filmed in outdoor sequences over the course of one or two days.

She told the broadcaster: "Albert Finney, and I got so excited about going back to Scotland, being in Scotland. We went up one day. We stayed at a hotel.

"Five thirty in the morning we were in Glencoe (the location which stood in for Bond's family estate). I was on the 7.30pm home," she laughed. It comes after Judi revealed how she pranked Skyfall director Sam Mendes on the Skyfall set.

The mum-of-one explained that she got her own back on the huge film director with a throwback to something he said to her when they worked together on a play called Cherry Orchard, "when he was just starting".

She recalled the hilarious incident at a special In Conversation With… event when she received an IFTA Lifetime Achievement Award.

The star had mixed feelings about her character's ending in the franchise (Image: Fearless podcast)

The actress told attendees: “One day at rehearsal I said, ‘Sam, do you think I could just try this another way? I just have an idea. I don't want to take up a lot of time. Could I just change this another way?’

"He said, ‘Yes, you can. But it won’t work!’” she exclaimed. Fast forward to 2012, Sam was called upon to direct Skyfall and the two were reunited on set. She went on: “So now you come to Skyfall. Many, many years later.

“So, we were doing a scene – Danny [Daniel Craig] and I were doing a scene and Sam came up to me. And he said, ‘Judi do you mind doing it another way?’ And I said, ‘Yes Sam, of course. But it won't work! It’s terrible to hold a grudge,” she said jokingly.

Clearly, he took it in good spirits as she returned for a cameo in his next Bond outing i the film Spectre in 2015, which was the last time she appeared as M on screen.