'Judi Dench plays the title character, a dotty dowager in Depression-era London, as a rude and obstinate snob, equal parts endearing and appalling, engaging in the sort of behaviour that passes as eccentric among British upper classes but would be diagnosed as psychopathic in anyone else.

This is Dame Judi's show. However extraordinary an actor she may be, she cannot conceal the obvious fact that she's having the time of her life here. Isn't that delicious?'