The American obsession with 'Downton' amuses me slightly because it's such a fiction. I've always been questioned about my historical veracity, and 'Downton' just flies past, when it's completely made up.

I've always been drawn to historical fiction.

Of course I had written a film about Elizabeth I, and I loved the Tudor period, and I think at the time Working Title and I had debated on whether to do Elizabeth I or Henry VIII. I'd always wanted to do Henry VIII. Like Elizabeth, I'd had this feeling that it had never properly been addressed.

I've always been slightly embittered about computers because it was the only subject I failed at school.

The power of historical fiction for bad and for good can be immense in shaping consciousness of the past.

When I did 'The Tudors,' there was massive information available and a ready-made market.