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First episodes are difficult things to write.

- Michael Hirst
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Author:
Michael Hirst
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Difficult Things
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When I did 'The Tudors,' there was massive information available and a ready-made market.

I'm very bad at delegating writing responsibilities, because I've never been able to do it; I've never had any help or looked for any help.

I've found that using historical material and being rooted in historical material is liberating because I always think to myself, 'Well, this actually happened, and this is fantastic!' That's why I don't like fantasy, in a way. Because it's sort of in emptiness.

Everything in 'The Tudors' is initially based on my historical research, and the fact is that the most unlikely scenes were the ones which were probably most based on reality. I prefer to be as real as possible, and there is so much of that story that you just can't make up.

TV drama - not always, but on the whole - were pretty appalling and very secondary, too. No one expected it to be like watching a movie; that was the point. But I think when you start watching 'Vikings,' it is like watching a movie - you're taken somewhere else.

My instinct is to absolutely recoil when talking about writing in a mechanistic way. Nothing could be dumber than writing a film or TV script based on prescriptions, on other peoples' ideas of what character should be.

People love cliches. If you can give people cliches, that's very good TV, then.

With 'The Tudors,' I had a huge amount of material, I mean so many books and so much stuff about what they really said. So, in a way it was kind of trying to strip it out and find the stories inside all this material.

People offer me loads of stuff, and some of it I like, but I just can't do it because I can't write it all. So I might get in the position where I have some sort of company and just write maybe the first episode, but these are love projects, in a way.

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First episodes are difficult things to write.

First episodes are difficult things to write.

First episodes are difficult things to write.

First episodes are difficult things to write.

First episodes are difficult things to write.

First episodes are difficult things to write.

First episodes are difficult things to write.

First episodes are difficult things to write.

First episodes are difficult things to write.

First episodes are difficult things to write.

First episodes are difficult things to write.

First episodes are difficult things to write.

First episodes are difficult things to write.

First episodes are difficult things to write.

First episodes are difficult things to write.