JUDI DENCH, made a dame in 1988 for her contributions to British theater, was nominated here in the States for a Tony for her performance in David Hare's play "Amy's View." She won an Oscar for playing Queen Elizabeth in "Shakespeare in Love." There were those who said the Oscar was really belated recognition for her wonderful Queen Victoria in "Mrs. Brown." But that didn't stop me, a member of the "Dench in Love" fan club, from cheering and giving high-fives all around when she won for her measly eight-minute reign in "Shakespeare in Love." But what did Dame Judi ever get for her contributions to TV? There was a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) nomination in 1995 for her role in "As Time Goes By." But here in the revolting colonies, as some of the sore losers still call us, there had been nada.
Many do not even know that she is a TV star, the lead in the Britcom "As Time Goes By." What is that, you may well be asking, the sitcom version of "Casablanca"? The average TV fan is totally oblivious to the fact that the BBC made seven series (52 episodes), some of which have been playing on public television since 1994.
Before any more time goes by, and to rectify this sad state of kudos-deprivation, I am glad to announce that Judi Dench is the winner of the first of the 1999 Marvys-for best lead actress in a British comedy. Actually, this most overdue recognition is for her work covering a five- year period, since I can be deucedly slow sometimes dishing out praise.
And while I'm catching up, I want to give another Marvy to "As Time Goes By" as the best Britcom of the years 1994-99. It is a most remarkable romantic comedy, noteworthy not only for acting performances by Dench and Geoffrey Palmer, but its scripts by Bob Larby ("The Good Neighbors"). Elegant, sophisticated and subtle, the series combines graceful language, cleverly delivered with economy, style and sensibility.
The coveted Marvy award is especially timely, since both of our public TV stations are starting this week what amounts to a Judi Dench Festival. Somebody up there at the programing pianos at WNET/13 and WLIW/21 must have heard the call. "Play it again, Sam." The battle royal of dueling "As Time Goes Bys" begins with Ch. 21 on Friday night at 9:30. It continues on Saturday night at 8:30 on Ch. 13.
The super-culturally sophisticated Newark station had the bad luck of ending its latest run of "ATGB" in March, just as Dame Judi was winning the Oscar. It is being brought back now, as they say, "by popular demand." "Maybe I'll get to see shows that I haven't already seen three times," explained Nancy Bischoff of Queens Village. "Maybe I'll even get to see Lionel and Jean's wedding." Could be. For years Ch. 13 had been rerunning series I-III; it is now starting series IV (10 episodes), which includes the wedding. WLIW/21, the English Channel in our market, which first ran series I-III from 1994 to 1996, swears it will run all 52 episodes consecutively, until the end of time or the next millennium.
Whatever. Let them fight it out. The bottom line for "Dench in Love" fans is we will not be able to say nothing is on this summer-at least on Friday and Saturday nights.
There are two schools of thought about Britcoms: thoughtful and not so thoughtful. "As Time Goes By" is thoughtful. It doesn't need to drop its trousers to get a laugh. What they do in "ATGB" flows genuinely out of the situations.
"ATGB" is a complex, cumulative story about a romantic relationship between two people of that uncertain age (the "wrinklies," as the Brits call the sixtysomethings), how it foundered, and was rekindled 40 years later.
More than a sitcom, it's a soap opera. You get to know all the characters and follow their lives from episode to episode, evolving like all good TV shows should do.
Dame Judi plays Jean, a smart, independent, feisty widow who runs a secretarial temp agency in London. As it has been explained umpteen times, she was a student nurse back in the 1950s who had a brief magical love affair with Lionel (Palmer), a soldier on his way to Korea. The love letter he sent home was never delivered. As time went by, both got on with their lives without each other.
Lionel eventually went off to Kenya, where he ran coffee plantations. In the premiere episode on WLIW Friday night, he returns to finish a book about his adventures taming the wild coffee bean. He needed a secretary. And ... well, the rest is "As Times Go By" in 52 chapters.
As great as Dame Judi is, Geoffrey Palmer is equally marvelous. He wins the Marvy for best lead actor in a British comedy, 1994-99. You know Palmer: He is the one who played the long-suffering dentist in "Butterflies." He also was in the "Reginald Perrin" series and "Fairly Secret Army," kept unfairly secret in public TV here (except on WNYC/31).
Palmer and Dench together is an experience like watching William Powell and Myrna Loy in one of those wonderful black-and-white classic movies.
I had the great honor to personally present the Marvy to Dame Judi at a recent reception in her honor at the British consul general's apartment in Manhattan.
It is one of the perks of being a TV critic: You can grovel at the feet of the ones you adore without seeming like a groveling fan. As she held court amid all the lords and ladies of the British theater currently in New York, we were the only ones talking about a TV show. The good news, she said gleefully, is as soon as she is free of her Broadway obligations, she will be doing series VIII for the BBC. With Palmer? "Of course," she said, "It couldn't be done without him." I must say they would have been proud of me back in Bensonhurst that, during the whole audience with her highness of the British television establishment winner of the Marvy Award and the love of my fantasy life, I never once addressed her as Dame Dench.
Thanks to Emma for sending me this article