Andrew Davies Quotations

Whether you consider an investment in conferencing to be a way to cut costs or to increase productivity, these tools will soon join the ranks as necessary tools for your company to compete in the worldwide economy.

Wales is delighted to be partnering with the state of Michigan, who we consider to be a leader in the ITS American arena. We see huge synergies between Michigan and Wales and look forward to further developing these opportunities.

It is a fascinating period, but people are expecting miracles - and miracles just don't happen, ... We have to be realistic about how fast we can change.

Our scheme guaranteeing free travel for elderly and disabled people on local bus services continues to be hugely successful. Nevertheless, we are conscious it cannot benefit people who are not able to use even low-floor buses because of the nature or severity of their disability. This project will not only immediately improve access for these passengers, it will also allow us to test the extent to which community transport is able to meet the transport needs of persons who cannot use conventional buses.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

I adore doing classic adaptations, but I also feel their frustrations and their limitations.

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

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.

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.

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

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

Othello' is the most domestic of Shakespeare's tragedies and the one that's likely to strike a personal note with a lot of people watching it.

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

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

Most actors hate readthroughs - they're exposing themselves before they're ready to, and before they've bonded. But I love them because they give us all the first inkling of what the whole show is going to be like, how each part affects every other part, and we won't see that again until it's all edited together.

I'm not one of these people who say how much better American drama is than English. I find it mostly too American, except for The Sopranos, which I think is the best thing.

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.

The older I get, the more fun it is to write young people. It's just a holiday from what is becoming old age, really.

I'd love to adapt more contemporary novels. But there isn't really enough story and character to make a really satisfying serial, so they tend to be single dramas.

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.

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.

The joy of writing drama is putting yourself into different people's heads.

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

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

From time to time there is a move to do a little less in the way of period dramas, but people rebel. Audiences say we want them. There is a big hunger for them. I don't think it's sentimentality or nostalgia, it's often that they are simply the best stories.

I had a very high opinion of my father's judgement of things and he said, "You better get a job that pays the bills because a writer doesn't make any money. If possible, get a job that allows you to write in your spare time."

Rebecca Eaton has made an enormous contribution to the cultural life of America, and, more than that, she is one of the most fun people I know.

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

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.

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."

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

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

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

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

Bleak House is a great baggy thing, the plot doesn't work in all sorts of parts, so you've got to tinker with it. Usually I tell myself, find the spine of the story and stick to that and chuck out anything not related to the spine of the story, but that doesn't work with Dickens. You lose the flavor of him if you don't include all those other extra comic characters that he couldn't stop himself from creating. The plot bulges out. It's like horrible boils or something, but in a nice way.

They also said they woke better and seemed to have a bit more energy during the day.

You can't make people do what they don't want to do,

The idea is to make a bit of a splash with this concert, to say hello in a way that introduces some very serious music but also puts together a great disparity of music with relish,