Quote

The BBC does a sterling job, but I'd like to see it do more. ITV does four arts programmes a year; it used to be 28. At least Sky, with its two arts channels, is trying.

The BBC can be infuriating at times but I love it with a passion.

One of the things the BBC does better than anyone is period drama.

The challenge is the culture. You have to have a vision for the BBC-it can't merely be that it's big and has a place in the market.

There is still an element of the BBC that feels it is somehow wrong, or it will be open to criticism, if it makes more money.

They're taking away the arts programmes in the schools, and that's a terrible thing.

I've done loads of things people have never seen - dramas on BBC4 and plays upstairs at the Royal Court and the Bush - and because I didn't go to drama school, they gave me an education.

Games aren't going to go away. BAFTA's got a category for games as an art form. The Academy should think about that, too.

I miss the BBC when I'm away. I'm away so much that it's a pleasure just walking back through the door and sitting on the sofa to watch some rubbish TV.

The BBC produces wonderful programmes; it also produces a load of old rubbish.