It's really hard to find just a simple character-driven drama, outside of a genre, that was available to direct, except for on TV.
For dramas, I love 'Downton Abbey.' I'm a sucker for the BBC.
As we have more women in power, so the plays and the TV dramas are reflecting what's happening.
The politics have always been difficult in medicine. There is some truth in the way medical practice is portrayed in TV dramas.
I'd love to be on a show like 'ER.' Just watching it is like, 'Phew.' I loved watching 'Veronica Mars.' 'Buffy' was a big... I loved 'Buffy.' I would go out of my way to watch 'Buffy.'
Cable television stations in America are now producing such smart, in-depth, non-formula, character-based dramas. Film has turned more and more into big action or cartoons.
There aren't a lot of political dramas on TV, and those that are tend to be American.
In an ideal world, I'd bounce between big projects and no-budget TV dramas with fantastic scripts. A lot of Hollywood films tend to be bloated, bombastic, loud. At the same time, I do like the infrastructure of making a blockbuster; it's like having a big train set.
For big Hollywood movies, I'm on the more character-driven side of the equation. So, TV is a natural place for me to be because you've got no choice, but to be character-driven.
For some reason, I never watched Lifetime but just discovered it. I was like, 'Oh, it's all rom-coms!'
At night, I try to sneak in some of the shows that I love. I can't live without '30 Rock' - I was a fan before I joined the show in 2007 - and 'The Office.' 'Revenge' is my drama. And I love Jimmy Kimmel if I can stay up late enough to watch him.
Religion is rarely mentioned in current prime-time dramas or sitcoms that supposedly reflect the way we live now.
It gives me vertigo to watch TV dramas.
I'm English and I'm used to coming from a world of period dramas, where there's a very polite restraint to everything. Everybody's sort of sitting in drawing rooms.
I worked on 'Line of Duty' with Vicky McClure after she'd just finished the last series of 'This Is EnglandI think the great thing about 'Ashes To Ashes' is that it is very much its own show. and I kept nagging her to find out how it ended.
I think that the dramas that you find in TV are actually a lot more interesting, typically, than what you find in cinema.
Whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, the higher your profile, the more castable you are in TV dramas.
But there are still good shows like 24, Boomtown and the Wire, the Shield.
In an ideal world, I'd bounce between big projects and no-budget TV dramas with fantastic scripts.
People want to be entertained when they watch dramas. 'Mistresses' has a mixture of escapism and reality.
I tend to be a fan of darker shows and love 'The Americans,' 'Ray Donovan,' 'True Detective,' 'House of Cards' and 'Peaky Blinders.'
With our dramas, we have a lot of shows that feature very well-to-do, well-educated people who are driving very nice cars and living in extremely nice places.
I think I have done my share of the saas-bahu dramas.
We draw inspiration directly and indirectly from all sorts of things, like movies, documentaries, TV dramas, novels, non-fiction books, animation, science and nature shows, and our own life experiences.
Period dramas seem to take actors to the next level because they do so well in America.
