My wife likes history and documentaries, but I'm not so keen on them. I generally go and do some work if there's one of those on..

The writer in movies is about as low as you can get and you really are a hired hand. You are paid a lot of money to be treated like dirt..

I'm not one of these people who say how much better American drama is than English. I find it mostly too American, except for The Sopranos, which I t….

People like bonnets. I don't think you can under-estimate that..

The joy of writing drama is putting yourself into different people's heads..

I prefer love scenes to be shot up close with a lot of focus on eyes and mouths. Otherwise it can feel uncomfortable and voyeuristic..

Be careful about the advice you give, especially to your children..

The most moving scene for me in 'Pride and Prejudice' is the Pemberley music room scene: Elizabeth has just saved Darcy's sister from embarrassment a….

The older I get, the more fun it is to write young people. It's just a holiday from what is becoming old age, really..

When you see two writers named on a movie, one of them did some drafts and got the boot..

I remain, however, fairly optimistic for the future of period drama because it's just such a popular thing..

I was getting rewarded for writing well, from about the age of five or six. A teacher would say, "Look what Andrew has written," and I thought, "Mayb….

I suppose I have the tastes of someone who teaches at a university in the provinces..

A distinguished producer called Kenith Trodd actually lived in his office for over a year - the cleaners refused to go in because it was such a tip..

As a fairly innocent teenager, growing up in a village in Wales, I just thought, "God, I would like to go and hang about Soho and write great poetry ….

Plan for each episode to be a satisfying experience, but still leave the audience thinking, 'Oh, my God! Now what?.

An adaptation I was working on of Trollope's 'The Pallisers' has been axed by the BBC... I was also going to do Dickens' 'Dombey and Son' but they've….

I know that a ridiculous number of classic serials have been commissioned, and that reviews show a reaction against them. The critics seem fed up..

Most actors hate readthroughs - they're exposing themselves before they're ready to, and before they've bonded. But I love them because they give us ….

Look at Jane Austen. Her characters derive in a reasonably straight line from fairy tales..

I'm absolutely delighted if people think of me as a reliable purveyor of quality period stuff..