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I didn't plan to be a director until I was 35. For years I wanted to do anything but!

I directed before I was even in television; I directed in the theatre for seven years, so that was my trade anyway. But in the UK, I've given up any hope of being considered a director.

When I made my first film, I didn't think of it as directing, so it wasn't like I set out to become a director.

I became a film director, but I wasn't successful with my first couple of films, so I had to turn to becoming a film critic to make a living.

I had never thought of myself as a director and found out that I was not. I am a writer who was able to direct the films that I write.

In a weird way, when I was looking back, I didn't know I was going to be a director until I was.

And I didn't grow up wanting to be a director. I grew up wanting to be a writer, so for me, that was always the goal - to be a novelist, not a screenwriter. And I think, again, if I didn't have the novels, maybe I'd be much more frustrated by not having directed yet.

In my mid-20s, I was directing episodes of 'Alfred Hitchcock' and 'Peter Gunn.' I was pretty much on course and - as I sometimes joke - was prepared to devote my life to become the second best film director in my family.