Emily Blunt was scolded by Dame Judi Dench for being late and "wildly hungover" when they were working together on a play.

The 42-year-old actress was just 18 when she was cast opposite the acting legend in a production of The Royal Family in London's West End in 2001 and she loved working with the Oscar-winner until one day when Emily almost missed the curtain call because she'd been out drinking the night before.

Emily told ELLE magazine: "In my first play, [I acted with] Dame Judi Dench, and she was so magical to me. I was 18. I learned a couple of things from her.

"She was really the lily pad to everything else. She was so kind to me, and even though I was the only person under the age of 50 in that cast, she never made me feel like I wasn't welcome in her dressing room.

"I felt like one of the gang. It was because of her inclusion every day. She has a funny, naughty, amazing sense of humor, and does not take herself seriously at all. She takes the work seriously, but not herself seriously. So it was that kind of balance that became really inspiring to me."

However, Emily saw another side of the stage veteran when she arrived at the theatre late to take part in a matinee performance following a big night out.

Emily went on to reveal: "Then I remember the one time she got cross with me. It was because I'd been out the night before on a bender.

"I was wildly hungover and I almost didn't make curtain call for the matinee. I remember her saying: 'No, darling. No, never.'

"I almost s*** myself and I've never been late again."

Emily added of Judi: "She was a big presence for me. Mischievous and just delightful. I was a kid and she was like: 'Darling, come upstairs. I've got Starbucks for us.'

"Then she'd be like: 'Come upstairs. Pierce Brosnan's dropping by.' It was heaven. I was just in a constant state of dork-out that whole job. I wept when it ended, wept. I was beside myself."