Judi Dench’s lobster love

Dame Judi Dench has a “passion” for lobsters.

The Oscar winning actress has led a host of famous faces in a series of naked shots for the FishLove campaign. It aims to highlight the devastation wrought by over-fishing and to encourage shoppers to purchase only sustainably caught fish. The Mrs Brown star chose to pose nude with a lobster covering her modesty.

“[I have]a passion for them,” she told British newspaper the Sunday Times. “The best part of the shoot was that it is not every day you get to cuddle one. The worst part was that I didn't get to eat it.”

The 80-year-old stares intently at the camera with the lobster’s claws held close to her face in the shot published ahead of World Oceans Day on June 8. She added that she is particularly anxious to highlight the increasing acidity of the world's oceans, a phenomenon caused by atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolving in the sea which can be detrimental to the lobster population.

“I have always loved the sea, my brothers and I learnt to swim practically before we could walk, and swimming in the sea is unsurpassed,” she continued. “I hope the campaign will achieve awareness of what we are doing to the planet.”

Dame Judi isn’t the only veteran actress taking part in the FishLove campaign. Julie Christie, 75, also posed in a dramatic shot surrounded by small fish.

“None of us should buy fish without checking its sustainability and in what manner it has been caught,” she explained, adding that she is keen to end overfishing.