Dustin Hoffman smitten by Judi Dench after Roald Dahl collaboration

Hollywood actor Dustin Hoffman has confessed his admiration for “scrumptious” Briton Judi Dench, saying he would love to make a romantic film with the Dame.

The star of The Graduate spoke after co- starring with Dench in an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Esio Trot made by British broadcaster BBC One.

Hoffman, 77, described Dench, 79, as “a scrumptious looking woman” and said he had watched some of her early performances online.

“I said to Judi, “If I met you then, I wouldn’t have let you get away,”” Hoffman said.

“There must be a way to do a love story where we meet in our 20s but yet we’re acting as we are now.”

In Esio Trot, Hoffman features as a bachelor in love with his neighbour, played by James Bond star Dench, who showers all her love on her pet tortoise.

The adaptation by Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral screenwriter Richard Curtis is due to be screened at Christmas.

Earlier in November, Curtis said Hoffman and Dench’s characters in Esio Trot were the couple “most likely to stay together” out of all those who had appeared in his films.

Judi Dench accepts the Albert R. Broccoli Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Entertainment from actor Dustin Hoffman at the Bafta Los Angeles

Britannia Awards on October 30.