I'm glad nobody has asked me to adapt 'Wuthering Heights' because I think I would make a mess of it. Everybody makes a mess of it. I think the Bronte Sisters are mad.

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

I'd love to adapt more contemporary novels. But there isn't really enough story and character to make a really satisfying serial, so they tend to be single dramas.

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."

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

Novels often have leisurely openings; a TV drama needs an arresting opening.

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.