In 2002, Smith reunited with Dame Judi Dench for David Hare's stage play "The Breath of Life". She also acted alongside Dench in the film "Ladies in Lavender" (2004) directed by Charles Dance. In 2003, Smith received her first Primetime Emmy Award for the HBO Television film "My House in Umbria". In 2004, she toured Australia in Alan Bennett's "Talking Heads" in 2004. In 2005, she starred as Grace Hawkins alongside Rowan Atkinson and Kristen Scott Thomas in the black comedy Keeping Mum.