I want to be one of those serious, moody writers.

I'm always thinking about my work, always thinking about where it's taking me.

The problem with individual opinion is that it doesn't necessary correlate with what the mass audience is thinking.

I'm reading 'Ten Storey Love Song' by Richard Milward. I read his first novel, 'Apples,' after hearing a reading of his in the Hague. I really enjoyed it, so I've started this one.

The footballer I've admired most in the last ten years is Zinedine Zidane... one of those rare individuals who had the skill but also incredible vision.

If you're a drama writer, obviously you always have to tell the truth; there's no element of fiction in at all.

The advantage you get of something having been on the air for a while is people get to know the characters more, and they get to be more invested in the world.

I think a lot of police procedurals are very conventional. With the stuff I'm doing, I'm trying to approach the institution of the police in a different way.

I write what I call precinct drama, and I tend to write things set in the workplace. Having an institution which gives a workplace its distinctive identity is really important to creating something which feels different.

I'm interested in institutions, particularly in the way institutions close ranks. They have hierarchies and their own ethics.

We're living in interesting times, where people seem to be able to say things which are contrary to what you would call rationalism.

There are great female role models out there, and I just feel very proud to be able to represent them in my work.

I come from gender-balanced workplaces. I started off working in medicine, and when I went through med school, it's 50/50 men and women. And when I started working as a doctor, it's 50/50 men and women. So I've always been very accustomed to women occupying pivotal roles in the professional environment.

If we have friends over for dinner, I do the cooking. I like the pressure of a big meal and the technical challenges of a roast.

In my third year at medical school in Birmingham, I joined the Air Force as a medical cadet so that I was sponsored to become a doctor.

There is an apparatus set up to protect politicians, but those within that apparatus will have their own political views. I've got mates who are police officers and mates who are in the military, and they often have a very different view to the policy they're asked to carry out.

I don't normally think of a specific actor. I concentrate on the character, and then when we get into pre-production, that's how names come up.

I always try and distinguish between facts and opinions.

I like to sit at my desk... sometimes I get inspiration when I'm going about my normal day-to-day life.

I think that the audience is smart enough to know that just because a drama is relating to real-world parallels, it doesn't mean that its story is exactly that story.

Part of me isn't that interested as a person and a viewer in people's personal lives. I'm much more interested in what people do in the workplace and what goals they set themselves. I guess that's why I write a lot of precinct drama.

I like to write about characters who are conflicted.

With the police thriller genre, people come to it with an expectation. It allows you to get away with a bit of violence, edginess, darkness.

I like to stay away from writing about good versus evil. I think the world is more complicated.