The best comedy is where you attack the strong, not the weak.

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 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 get paid to do what I enjoy, not that common a condition.

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

The best comedy is where you attack the strong, not the weak.