Quotes from Andrew Davies

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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."

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.

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