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

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

I used to have this Mercedes, a dark blue 450SLC, which was the most beautiful car. I'd like to have another unusual, beautiful car.

Taking the humour out of Dickens, it's not Dickens any more.

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

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, "Maybe I could be a writer."