TikTok's newest and brightest star? 85-year-old Oscar winner Judi Dench

The 'Shakespeare in Love' actress has become an unlikely social media sensation while in lockdown

Dame Judi Dench has become a regular co-star in her grandson's TikTok videos. Sam Williams / TikTok

Move over Patrick Stewart, there's a new UK national treasure reigning over social media.

Dame Judi Dench, the award-winning British actress, has become an unexpected star on TikTok while she isolates amid the pandemic – and it's all thanks to her grandson.

The Oscar, Bafta and Tony Award winner, 85, has starred in a number of clips on the video-sharing social networking site, racking up hundreds of thousands of views in the process.

The clips have been shared by Dench's grandson, Sam Williams, who has made the videos over video chat as his family practice social distancing.

The two created this synchronised dance to Yung Gravy's Cheryl, with Dench performing via an iPad.

That particular feat, in which the Shakespeare in Love star jived along to lyrics such as "little bit of flexing" in her garden, has garnered more than 670,000 views.

The pair have also taken part in a series of joke-telling clips, as Williams recounts corny quips to Dench, who beats him to the punchline every time.

"Why do I bother," the 22-year-old, who calls Dench "ma", deadpans.

Williams only launched his TikTok account last month, after finding himself bored as he isolated at home.

"I just thought it would be a really nice thing for me and my grandma to do while in quarantine, because we are close and we're not together," he told Insider.

"One day I was like, 'Why don't I tell ma some jokes?' I'll just tell her some jokes and see what happens,'" he said. "I thought I'd film it for TikTok and hopefully it'll make people laugh."

Williams has also riffed on Dench's appearance in the critically panned live-action remake of Cats, creating a sketch where he's told by a mate that they've just "paid £15 to see your grandma in a terrible film".

Williams, the son of Dench's daughter Finty Williams, says that while he's pleased users have been enjoying his videos, he's not making them with his grandmother just for the views.

"For me it's trying to put a smile on to people's faces," he told Insider. "And in this time of so much uncertainty, to get someone to smile or have that bit of light in their day, that's all I care about."

That appears to be somewhat of a family motto, after Dench told fans to "just keep laughing" in a social media video that went viral last month.

In the clip, shared to Twitter on March 18 by her daughter, the Notes on a Scandal actress sports a comical dog hat with moveable ears.

"Oh, there you are! Just keep laughing. That's all we can do," Dench said to the camera, at a time when the UK began to enforce stricter measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The actress also starred in a video with writer and actor Gyles Brandreth last month, in which the pair encouraged viewers to wash their hands thoroughly accompanied by a reading of The Owl and the Pussy-Cat.

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Read more:

From royals to Oscar winners: the celebrities taking action against the coronavirus

From 'Glee' to One Direction: the best musical reunions taking place in isolation

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