High Spirits
by Joan Sims
Books -- 2000

First published 2000 by Partridge. ISBN: 1852252804

Excerpts that pertain to Dame Judi ...

The first series of As Time Goes By, written by Bob Larbey and starring Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer, was transmitted early in 1992 Yet again my character was named Madge, this time the rip-roaring, hard-driving wife of Rocky, played by Frank Middlemass (who, to make a tenuous link to The Cobblers of Umbridge, had played the last Dan Archer on the radio) - and with this part I finally started to shrug off the label of - Carry On actress.  The series has become so hugely popular that people who stop me in the street now to say 'Excuse me, but aren't you ' are as likely to finish their sentence with ' . . . that lady in As Time Goes By' as '.. . that person from the Carry Ons?'

The basic story of As Time Goes By is that Judi and Geoffrey, as Jean and Lionel, having been sweethearts before the war, meet up again and eventually marry. Rocky is Lionel's father, who woos and wins Madge - who might be old but adamantly refuses to admit it and insists on living life to the full. My first appearance in the series was quite wonderful, roaring up a country road in my huge pink Cadillac, stetson planted firmly on my head, whooping with delight.

Like all Bob Larbey's comedy, As Time Goes By gets its laughs from gentle, understated humour rather than in-your-face gag- making. Interestingly, the series has become immensely popular in the USA.

Acting regularly in a sitcom has a routine all of its own. The filmed sequences are made well in advance of the studio recording, which in the case of As Time Goes By takes place on a Friday We are called in on the following day to read through next week's episode, then given Sunday off before returning to work on Monday, rehearsing each weekday morning and then recording in the studio on the Friday. On that day we first go through the episode very slowly with the cameras, blocking each actor's movements and lining up the shots. We run through the episode up to speed, more than once if necessary, and then do the dress run in costume. We then break for a meal before returning to the studio to perform the real thing in front of a live audience.

Working in front of a studio audience is wonderful fun, so long as you don't get inhibited if you make a mistake and have to redo the scene. Audiences seem to love it when that happens, provided that you don't take it too seriously. Let them in on the joke and they'll stay with you.

A Big Thanks to Lisa S. -- UK -- for scanning and sending this to us.