DAME JUDI DENCH relished working on U.K. TV series CRANFORD – because the period drama reminded her of the tight-knit community she lived in as a girl.

The veteran actress starred in the programme – set in a fictional village called Cranford in Cheshire, England – alongside her daughter Finty Williams in 2007 and recently reprised her role for two new Christmas episodes.

And revisiting the set made Dench realise how much she misses the sense of community spirit that she experienced in her youth.

She tells Yours magazine, “It (Cranford) is still the place where people watch out for one another and know each other’s business. It takes me back to when I was a little girl in the Thirties and Forties. I remember friends of ours being blitzed (bombed during World War II) in York and everybody rallied round bringing food and clothes, which was wonderful. Now we tend to shy away from that. I’m always rather thrilled that people can’t find my house on their Sat Nav (satellite navigation system). But still, there is something to be said for a community that cares.”

(IANS-WENN)