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

Be careful about the advice you give, especially to your children.

I was getting rewarded for writing well, from about the age of five or six. A teacher would say, "Look what Andrew has written," and I thought, "Maybe I could be a writer."

I used to have this Mercedes, a dark blue 450SLC, which was the most beautiful car. I'd like to have another unusual, beautiful car.

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

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

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.

As a fairly innocent teenager, growing up in a village in Wales, I just thought, "God, I would like to go and hang about Soho and write great poetry and try to avoid drinking myself to death."

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

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

I remain, however, fairly optimistic for the future of period drama because it's just such a popular thing.

don't make the mistake of not following your dreams as most do, but plan out your day and except change

Very few things happen at the right time and the rest do not happen at all the conscientious historian will correct these defects.

Words are in this respect like water, that they often take their taste, flavour, and character, from the mouth out of which they proceed, as the water from the channel through which it flows.

It's not about winning. It's the enjoyment of doing it - it gets your brain going.

Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and you will accomplish your object.

I try to tell one lie in every interview. It keeps people I know amused when they read the article.

The victory of socialism will not descend like fate from heaven.

How can I go out there and create value?

Writing is a performance, like singing an aria or dancing a jig

The news is not a mirror of social conditions, but the report of an aspect that has obtruded itself.