The movies are funny, in one way, because you think of everyone being as beautiful as the dawn, but that isn't true.

When people are feeling insecure about their jobs and there are cuts to be made, it's hard to put up an argument that the film industry needs funding.

There are many nations that have perfected a particular room. You know, you have the French drawing-room, the Austrian ball room, the German dining room, and I think the library is a room the English get right.

The moment I was introduced to my wife, Emma, at a party I thought, here she is - and 20 minutes later I told her she ought to marry me. She thought I was as mad as a rat. She wouldn't even give me her telephone number - and she wrote in her diary: "A funny little man asked me to marry him."

For most directors, the scriptwriter is about as welcome on set as a member of the Taliban.

It's the gloomy things that need our help, if everything in the garden is sunny, why meddle?

What is a week-end? Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey.