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Judi Dench

Judi Dench is keen for people to continue enjoying the work of Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein - despite the sexual assault allegations against them.

Multiple women, including Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, went public with their allegations against Weinstein in October 2017, and he is facing trial on five sexual assault charges, including first-degree rape. He denies engaging in non-consensual sex.

The public outcry over the Weinstein allegations swept up a number of other Hollywood figures, including Spacey, who has been accused of predatory behaviour by multiple men, including the actor Anthony Rapp, who alleges he molested him as a teenager.

Although Dench, 84, condemns both men's alleged actions, she believes their work should live on, as the art should be separated from the person.

The Skyfall star tells Britain's Radio Times magazine: "Are we going to negate 10 years at the (London) Old Vic and everything that he did (as its artistic director) - how wonderful he's been in all those films? Are we just not going to see all those films that Harvey produced?

"You cannot deny somebody a talent. You might as well never look at a Caravaggio painting (he was a murderer). You might as well never have gone to see Noel Coward (who was accused of predatory behaviour)."

Following the scandal, Spacey, who is currently involved in a civil trial over sexual battery in Massachusetts, was removed from Ridley Scott's film All the Money in the World, a decision Dench disagreed with - calling it "agony" for the actor.

The British acting legend has a personal connection to both men, as Weinstein produced Shakespeare in Love - the film for which Dench won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar - while the Usual Suspects star comforted her following the death of her husband, Michael Williams, in 2001.