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.

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 and confusion, and as the music plays on, Darcy's look of gratitude becomes a look of love, which we see reciprocated in Elizabeth's eyes.

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

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

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

I always do like to write love stories, even if they end tragically.

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 and try to avoid drinking myself to death."