Dame Judi Dench will always regret not having more children as her attempts to adopt were turned down.
The Shakespeare In Love star became a first-time mother to daughter Finty at the age of 37, and she and late husband Michael Williams longed for another baby.
Dench was unable to fall pregnant again and the couple subsequently looked into adoption, but officials denied their request and the actress admits not having a second child is "the only regret" she holds in life.
She tells Britain's Yours magazine, "I wish we'd had lots more children. That's the only regret I have. But I was older and it didn't happen.
"We tried to adopt a child and they didn't like it because we were over 40 - and Michael was a Catholic and I was a Quaker. It obviously wasn't to be."
Dench also opens up about her early days as a mother in the interview, revealing, "I'd had a daughter and having a family I wanted to be at home. Michael wouldn't let me stop (working), though. So in the beginning I tried to arrange things so I was with her during the day and going to the theatre in the evening when she was in bed. Later on, when she went to school, I could do things like television during the day to be with her in the evening."