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

Andrew Davies

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Andrew Davies
Age: 88
Born: 1936
Born: September 30
Screenwriter
Writer
Rhiwbeina
Andrew Wynford Davies
Arresting
Openings
Novels
Opening
Drama
Novel
Often
Needs
Leisurely

More quotes by Andrew Davies

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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.
Andrew Davies
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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.
Andrew Davies
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People like bonnets. I don't think you can under-estimate that.
Andrew Davies
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People in the BBC are always dying to get out of their open-plan offices.
Andrew Davies
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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.
Andrew Davies
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Taking the humour out of Dickens, it's not Dickens any more.
Andrew Davies
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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.
Andrew Davies
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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.
Andrew Davies
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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.
Andrew Davies
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I'm absolutely delighted if people think of me as a reliable purveyor of quality period stuff.
Andrew Davies
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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.
Andrew Davies
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I remain, however, fairly optimistic for the future of period drama because it's just such a popular thing.
Andrew Davies
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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.
Andrew Davies
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When you see two writers named on a movie, one of them did some drafts and got the boot.
Andrew Davies
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I always do like to write love stories, even if they end tragically.
Andrew Davies
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You're stuck with being yourself, so the important thing is to find people who like that.
Andrew Davies
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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.
Andrew Davies
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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.
Andrew Davies
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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.
Andrew Davies
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The BBC fulfils a wonderful cultural function. Maybe the problem is that it feels it needs to be everything to everybody.
Andrew Davies