I read "Pride and Prejudice" [by Jane Austen]. I was gobsmacked by it - it's so funny and so modern. Unbelievable. You don't expect funny to come through after 200 years - humor doesn't transcend decades, let alone centuries.

There is this idea that appealing to youth is the only way forward. But that is no longer the case. Youth is not everything. Now we have all the baby-boomers in their 60s, like me, who are actively engaged in life - we're not retiring, we're not just being put out to grass once we hit 60.

It's very strong after the birth. It's extraordinary. You can't watch anything to do with kids being harmed.

I felt my mother about the place. I don't think she haunts me, but I wouldn't put it past her.

Some of the most interesting questions needing to be asked today can best be asked on television, or on stage, and they can be wonderful, great dramas, but they won't necessarily be blockbusters.

I think comedy's something you can't learn. It's an instinct, which makes it rather elusive.

I was feeling very irritable. It was that difficult time of the month when the credit card statement arrives.