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

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.

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.

Playing the victim is like surrendering to self-imprisonment.

It is in the shade that you look up at a tree and appreciate its efforts.

Drama is very important in life: You have to come on with a bang. You never want to go out with a whimper. Everything can have drama if it's done right. Even a pancake.

Voting is a right best exercised by people who have taken time to learn about the issues.

Fumes of wine shorten the long road.

I'm African American, I'm a lot of other things, a musician and an artist. But that woman part holds the most pain for me. And therefore, obviously, the most lessons.

Good people are not trained, they are found. If you are training too much, you may not have the right people.

Vision and the ability to mobilize and inspire people at the grassroots. That's what the most important criteria is going to be for any DNC chair.

Learn the rules, break the rules, make up new rules, break the new rules.

Maybe the gift of any great person is the power to converse with our own hearts.