Novels often have leisurely openings; a TV drama needs an arresting opening.
The joy of writing drama is putting yourself into different people's heads.
I remain, however, fairly optimistic for the future of period drama because it's just such a popular thing.
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.
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.
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.
