A distinguished producer called Kenith Trodd actually lived in his office for over a year - the cleaners refused to go in because it was such a tip.

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."

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

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.

Life is a dream. It moves from cause to cause, effect to effect, one point to another, one state of existence to another.

...that's what friends did. Let each other off the hook when they didn't want to talk.

Because you can't be as in love as we were and not have it invade your bone marrow. Our kind of love can go into remission, but it's always waiting to return. Like the world's sweetest cancer.

In fact, in an agile project, technical excellence is measured by both capacity to deliver customer value today and create an adaptable product for tomorrow.

Some men just want to watch the world burn.

For the truth of the conclusions of physical science, observation is the supreme Court of Appeal.

A tip for generalists who try to read economic research papers: If you get to a section that's incomprehensible, don't give up. Just skip to the next section.

There is no restraining men's tongues or pens when charged with a little vanity.

Regret is… an unavoidable result of any loss, for in loss we lose the tomorrow that we needed to make right our yesterday or today.

It doesn't matter what I said!