I love Mikhail Bulgakov. He is very original and takes the story to unexpected places. I didnt realise political writing could be so funny. – Denise Mina
If you went for a job interview in a Glasgow law firm, they used to ask you what school you went to. And that was a way of finding out what religion you were. – Denise Mina
In the forensic science course I took at university they used photographs of dead bodies. For ballistics they showed us a guy lying on the floor, and his head had burst. – Denise Mina
We dont really go in for big family dinners, but Scottish people are famously confrontational. Its a cultural thing, so maybe we dont need to have them to clear the air. Also, traditional family food isnt as nice here so theres no payoff for traveling hundreds of miles. – Denise Mina
I recently spent quite a bit of time in Sheffield, England, which is where Im from. I wouldnt move back there, but its funny when you spend a bit of time in the place where you were brought up. You kind of realize how that place has had quite a big effect on you or made you a certain way. – Jarvis Cocker
It used to be that you had to make female TV characters perfect so no one would be offended by your portrayal of women. Even when I started out on The Office eight years ago, we could write our male characters funny and flawed, but not the women. And now, thankfully, its completely different. – Mindy Kaling