The Vote, review: art meets life in real-time drama

Judi Dench, Catherine Tate and Mark Gatiss star in a brilliantly apt play about the last 90 minutes of polling day.

The Vote review: all-star election-night farce

Judi Dench, a wonderfully twitchy Mark Gatiss, Catherine Tate and other famous faces make appearances at the polling station in Graham's entertaining ballot-box drama.

I always forget that Radio 2 has comedy shows, but it does, and it boasts a promising new one in the form of Listomania. Hosted with panache by Susan Calman, Listomania's first show was last week, and boasted a selection of funny people I'd never heard of. This is a good thing: for the past five years, mainstream comedy producers seem to have been choosing their panellists from a list of about 10 people, of whom two are women (and one is always Rebecca Front).

That list is not one that has appeared on Listomania so far. Here are some that have: a list of World Cups that Wales could win; a list that compares a selection of My Little Pony characters against slang terms for illegal narcotics, and another that compares Judi Dench characters with Ikea merchandise. All terrifically artificial, of course, but cues for some good gags, especially from Lloyd Langford. I enjoyed the variety of accents on offer, too - Irish, Scottish, Welsh, English, Aussie - it's cheering to hear different kinds of lovely voices, rather than the standard upper-middle southern English that sweeps all before it on Radio 4. Plus: three women each week! All funny! Who'd have thought?

Bill Nighy interview

Bill Nighy reveals his greatest fear was killing Dame Judi Dench on set.

Review: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Spry sequel to the cross-cultural smash featuring Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.

Video: Dench and Imrie on Second Marigold Hotel film

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has had a Royal Gala premiere in London.

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall were at the event in London's Leicester Square, alongside stars of the film.

BBC London's Brenda Emmanus spoke to Dame Judi Dench and Celia Imrie about sequel and the new additions to the cast.

Watch Dame Judi Dench's wise words fall on deaf ears

World exclusive clip shows Maggie Smith's Muriel Donnelly just doesn't want to listen.

Dustin Hoffman and Judi Dench acted together, and wonderfully, in Esio Trot, an essentially children's book brought to the screen. Roald Dahl's tale of late-blooming love, revolving around a tortoise (spell it backwards), with its incremental-growth trick giving me goosepimples for the sublime The Twits, was undermined by the inclusion of actor James Corden and writer Richard Curtis, but not much: Dahl's intention survived, just. He was a wonderfully dark man.

Esio Trot review

This adaptation of Roald Dahl's book about a love affair, starring Judi Dench and Dustin Hoffman and 100 tortoises, is a thing of wonder.

Esio Trot: Dustin Hoffman & Judi Dench shine

Although Esio Trot is ultimately quite a lightweight story, I feel that Richard Curtis and co-writer Paul Mayhew-Archer make it work due to some great characterisation and extra narrative touches.