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 think is the best thing.

I got quite cross when I heard about Emma Thompson adapting 'Sense and Sensibility.' It was absolutely childish of me, but I thought, 'I should be doing that. They didn't even ask me.' Some mistake, surely.

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."

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

Rebecca Eaton has made an enormous contribution to the cultural life of America, and, more than that, she is one of the most fun people I know.

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.

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