Dame Judi Dench has confessed losing her sight has its upsides - as it helps her overcome stage fright.

The 79-year-old actress appeared at the Cheltenham Literary Festival to talk about her long and successful acting career and, according to the Daily Mirror, told how she had been terrified of singing live at the Proms in 2010 - until she got on stage and realised she couldn't see the audience.

Dame Judi - who suffers from macular degeneration, an age-related condition leading to loss of vision - recalled: "A more frightening experience I have yet to have. Fortunately now I can't see very clear, I used to be able to see every member of the audience and exactly what they were doing.

"I can't do that any more which in a way is a wonderful blessing. I didn't realise it was a blessing until I went on that night at the Proms.

"There was like a sea of corn in front of me. And I looked up and thought 'there is nobody upstairs'."

The venue was sold out for Judi's performance.

Judi also admitted she missed working on the stage, having mainly done film work in the past few years.

She said: "My daughter is on tour at the moment and we went the other night and sat there in the theatre and I thought 'gosh I miss that'. That whole thing of getting ready and going on and it being slightly different from the last night, slightly better or slightly worse.

"I really miss that. There is no substitute for being part of a company and all coming together to tell a story that very moment."

The Oscar-winning actress - who bowed out of playing M in the James Bond movies in the last film Skyfall - added that the intense work rate of the theatre didn't put her off.

Dame Judi said: "That doesn't faze me at all, eight shows a week.

"If you do eight performances that is the amount of energy you have. Fortunately I was blessed with an enormous amount of energy because my parents had that.

"That is something you are passed on and you are lucky if you have it."