Quote

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

Andrew Davies

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Andrew Davies
Age: 88
Born: 1936
Born: September 30
Screenwriter
Writer
Rhiwbeina
Andrew Wynford Davies
Function
Wonderful
Everybody
Maybe
Problem
Everything
Feels
Fulfils
Needs
Cultural

More quotes by Andrew Davies

Image
Look at Jane Austen. Her characters derive in a reasonably straight line from fairy tales.
Andrew Davies
Image
I'm absolutely delighted if people think of me as a reliable purveyor of quality period stuff.
Andrew Davies
Image
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
Image
When you see two writers named on a movie, one of them did some drafts and got the boot.
Andrew Davies
Image
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
Image
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.
Andrew Davies
Image
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
Image
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.
Andrew Davies
Image
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.
Andrew Davies
Image
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
Image
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
Image
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.
Andrew Davies
Image
People in the BBC are always dying to get out of their open-plan offices.
Andrew Davies
Image
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
Image
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.
Andrew Davies
Image
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.
Andrew Davies
Image
Novels often have leisurely openings a TV drama needs an arresting opening.
Andrew Davies
Image
I always do like to write love stories, even if they end tragically.
Andrew Davies
Image
'Affinity' is beautiful and intense, with no laughs. It's a rather delicate and emotional love story, with a spooky element.
Andrew Davies
Image
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