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 would love it if anyone gave me the job of adapting 'The Great Gatsby,' but nobody ever does.

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.

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 all the first inkling of what the whole show is going to be like, how each part affects every other part, and we won't see that again until it's all edited together.

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.

From time to time there is a move to do a little less in the way of period dramas, but people rebel. Audiences say we want them. There is a big hunger for them. I don't think it's sentimentality or nostalgia, it's often that they are simply the best stories.

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