Theatre is a series of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.

It's not the voting that's democracy; it's the counting.

One of the nice things about the world of filmmaking is that you make friends in the business.

Actors! The mechanics of cheap melodrama! That isn't death! You scream and choke and sink to your knees but it doesn't bring death home to anyone- it doesn't catch them unawares and start the whisper in their skulls that says- 'One day you are going to die.

Obviously, you would give your life for your children, or give them the last biscuit on the plate. But to me, the trick in life is to take that sense of generosity between kin, make it apply to the extended family and to your neighbour, your village and beyond.

I write fiction because it's a way of making statements I can disown.

The fact is, I loved being English. I was very happy to be turned into an English schoolboy.