I'm absolutely delighted if people think of me as a reliable purveyor of quality period stuff.

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

An adaptation I was working on of Trollope's 'The Pallisers' has been axed by the BBC... I was also going to do Dickens' 'Dombey and Son' but they've asked me to do 'David Copperfield' instead.

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

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

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.