Stephen Poliakoff interview

In The Guardian, Paul Hoggart talks to writer and director, Stephen Poliakoff, whose new films, Joe's Palace and Capturing Mary, will be shown on the BBC next month.

"If you ask why I have got creative freedom, there's a very simple answer," he says. "They wanted me to speed up Shooting the Past. They said, 'Cut 35 minutes.' And I said, 'No! I'm going to slow it right down. If I never work in television again, I'm not doing that!' And because that series had such an impact, nobody has tried to interfere again. Everybody knows that show would never have reached the screen if I hadn't fought like a tiger to protect it. It had an amazing hold on its audience." He was told that the retention rate matched that year's climactic Christmas episode of EastEnders.

"We had a lot of international success too," he says. "It was a lucky place to find myself. After that I could do my own stories and cast who I want.

Michael Gambon in Joe's Palace by Stephen Poliakoff (Photo: Lawrence Cendrowicz/BBC)