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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

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From Time To Time

Andrew Davies

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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.

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Look At Jane Austen. Her Characters Derive In A Reasonably Straight Line From Fairy Tales.

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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."

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.

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.

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I Remain, However, Fairly Optimistic For The Future Of Period Drama Because It's Just Such A Popular Thing.

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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."

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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.

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