Dame Judi Dench thinks Brits owe a "debt" to the National Health Service (NHS)
The 88-year-old actress was just 13 when the NHS was founded, and she thinks the service should be cherished.
22 March 2023
Judi - who stars in 'Allelujah', a film about a fictionalised hospital in England - told Sky News: "This is about the debt we owe to the NHS and for what they've done for us over the last three to two to three years and what we owe them and what we were all out clapping in the streets for. And that isn't something that should just end, it should go on and magnify."
Judi felt a personal connection to the movie.
The actress also suggested that doctors have lost the personal touch with their patients.
She explained: "Both my father and my eldest brother were doctors ... I used to go on rounds with my father. He'd have a list in the morning with around 40 people to see. And we would go, and I would sit in the car with the dog and he'd go in and then come out again.
"There was a wonderful repartee between him and his patients - always a chat on the doorstep. [They'd say] 'Come in', and he'd come out with some eggs, and that was wonderful. And I think that's lost in a way now."
Meanwhile, Jennifer Saunders - who plays Sister Gilpin in the film - also drew on personal experience for her performance.
The 64-year-old actress shared: "My mother had died just before we made the film, and so I got to understand what caring and end of life care is. And my admiration just went through the roof.
"These people do it from love ... and being undervalued and underappreciated and overworked. And it's not fair."
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