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" Look at Jane Austen. Her characters derive in a reasonably straight line from fairy tales. "

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" My wife likes history and documentaries, but I'm not so keen on them. I generally go and do some work if there's one of those on. "

" I always do like to write love stories, even if they end tragically. "

" Taking the humour out of Dickens, it's not Dickens any more. "

" I'm absolutely delighted if people think of me as a reliable purveyor of quality period stuff. "

" The BBC fulfils a wonderful cultural function. Maybe the problem is that it feels it needs to be everything to everybody. "

" Novels often have leisurely openings; a TV drama needs an arresting opening. "

" The most moving scene for me in 'Pride and Prejudice' is the Pemberley music room scene: Elizabeth has just saved Darcy's sister from embarrassment and confusion, and as the music plays on, Darcy's look of gratitude becomes a look of love, which we see reciprocated in Elizabeth's eyes. "

" People like bonnets. I don't think you can under-estimate that. "

" One of the things I've always thought is a drag in so many period adaptations is that they are always buttoned up to the neck in so many clothes all the time. I'm always looking for excuses to get them out of their clothes. "

" I suppose I have the tastes of someone who teaches at a university in the provinces. "

" 'Affinity' is beautiful and intense, with no laughs. It's a rather delicate and emotional love story, with a spooky element. "

" Plan for each episode to be a satisfying experience, but still leave the audience thinking, 'Oh, my God! Now what?' "

" An adaptation I was working on of Trollope's 'The Pallisers' has been axed by the BBC... I was also going to do Dickens' 'Dombey and Son' but they've asked me to do 'David Copperfield' instead. "

" The writer in movies is about as low as you can get and you really are a hired hand. You are paid a lot of money to be treated like dirt. "

" I'm glad nobody has asked me to adapt 'Wuthering Heights' because I think I would make a mess of it. Everybody makes a mess of it. I think the Bronte Sisters are mad. "

" You're stuck with being yourself, so the important thing is to find people who like that. "

" I prefer love scenes to be shot up close with a lot of focus on eyes and mouths. Otherwise it can feel uncomfortable and voyeuristic. "

" I would love it if anyone gave me the job of adapting 'The Great Gatsby,' but nobody ever does. "

" When you see two writers named on a movie, one of them did some drafts and got the boot. "

" I had a mother who was very emotionally demanding, wanting to be the centre of attention. As they say in EastEnders, she thought it was all about 'er. I spent a lot of time trying to work out what was going on. "

" People in the BBC are always dying to get out of their open-plan offices. "

" I know that a ridiculous number of classic serials have been commissioned, and that reviews show a reaction against them. The critics seem fed up. "

" I got quite cross when I heard about Emma Thompson adapting 'Sense and Sensibility.' It was absolutely childish of me, but I thought, 'I should be doing that. They didn't even ask me.' Some mistake, surely. "