Asked how long it took to learn to live without him, Dench replied: “I don’t know. Perhaps I’ve never done that, quite. Although I have met David, who runs the British Wildlife Centre. And he’s about four miles away, and that’s just lovely because we laugh about the same things. But I suspect I shall never ever get over Mikey.”

She added: “It changes who you are completely, I think. Because it’s like you’re walking along, and suddenly you’re not looking and there’s an enormous chasm in front of you. And suddenly all sorts of things take you, expected kinds of things happen.

“I don’t expect you ever get used to it. Sometimes the door in this house just opens and I think that he’s just wandered in.”

David Tennant Does A Podcast With... is available on Apple, Spotify and all podcast providers.

Dame Judi Dench describes how the grief over her husband changed who she is