I like making films about old people because they are repositories of amazing stories that they tell well. And they're incredibly good telly.

No, there are no hard and fast rules about sources, no printed booklet to help journalists through.

I've got a very peculiar sort of fame, based on being on the telly. It doesn't mean you have the lifestyle people expect.

You end up with this succession of periods when everything was marvellous - from King Arthur to the medieval times, Ivanhoe, chivalry, Henry VIII, Merry England, the Blitz

You have a huge amount of confidence when you're younger, which slowly ebbs away for the rest of your life. You think: 'No problem. I can do that. Why shouldn't I do it?'

My mother was a terrific force in my life. Wartime-generation woman, hadn't gone to university but should have done. Was very funny, very verbal, very clever, very witty.

I've seen the Pokémon movie, which is probably the worst movie ever made on any subject ever.