I spent most of the Seventies living in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and most of the Eighties living in Stoke-on-Trent.

Yes, I've heard of the 'Mad Men' comparisons, but I like to think 'The Hour' has its own distinctive voice. Although it is set in 1956, I have tried to give it a contemporary edge, and its themes of love, passion, romance, fury, professional jealousy, and personal failure are universal, I think.

I am always running away from something.

Feminism isn't just for women. It's for men.

Usually when I write a movie, I'm lucky if I get one good actress.

Most good work is a combination of parts you love and parts you could do better. My constant mantra is, 'Next time, next time, next time.'

I'm a cheap date.

I'm a writer of fiction. I try to write about my time, but it's dangerous if I'm seen as an investigative writer. I manipulate and change and control.

If you want to fit in, you try to mirror whatever anyone wants from you.

Life experiences inherently change you as a writer. My sense of fury calmed down when I had children and found a loving partner.

I wrote a play for Miu Miu called 'The Moment Is the Present, That's Why It's Called a Gift.' Instead of doing a catwalk show, all the actors wore the clothes and performed a 20-minute play.

I love the South Bank: every era of architecture is there, and you can stop, look, and listen.

I literally grew up in drama. I used to watch drama - the catharsis of the play - then see drama at home.

'Tender' is my most strongly autobiographical play.

I can go to the BBC and say, 'OK, my next drama is for women, and it is diverse women.' I take that to America, however, and I have another set of conversations.

I write an actual script rather quickly - a draft will take me two weeks - but I write a lot of drafts. My big thing is I don't re-read. When I write, I never re-read back. I'll send it, because if I re-read back, it will cripple me.

I'm so straight and boring, really. I have two kids and a very nice partner.

I was a pretty heartbroken 13-year-old. That was the year my grandmother died and my parents split up.

I can understand a family that's imploding. I have experience of that in my own life.

I always say writing a play is like toothache: I find it incredibly painful, and it's only once the play's out that the pain is gone.

I don't really read that many magazines; I'm more of a browser. I get 'Vanity Fair' quite often if I'm on a train.

I talk to myself all the time - it's something my children have observed in the car.

When people say to me, 'You're so prolific!' it's, like, no, I'm just hopeless with money.

Of all the mediums, theatre is the one where you really need to have something to say - because it's just you, the words, and the space.

The world can make you very angry.

I think there is a difference between connecting with a character and supporting and believing their policies.

My mother came to see me in a play when I was a student, and afterwards, I asked her what she thought. She said, 'Honest opinion? No.'

Of course I am aware that there is a level of sexism in any large institution, but I find, in television and film, most of the producers are women.

I never get writer's block, but I do have days where I crawl under the duvet.

I didn't take into account the critical tsunami that comes with having work going out. I've gone from being a complete narcissist, someone who googles my own name, to someone who has to work separately from that to avoid creative paralysis.

I think social media has reinvigorated people's enthusiasm to be active and to engage.