Hilary Mantel: bring back Cromwell's welfare state I find this terrifying. Unmistakably, those resonances are there. She added: "One thing Thomas Cromwell was really good at was sound money. He made an English gold piece worth what it said it was worth. We could do with him coming and sorting out the crisis of confidence in the banking system. Mantel now has a place in the record books as the first British author to win the Man Booker Prize on two occasions. Her first win was for Wolf Hall, the first instalment in her Cromwell trilogy, in 2009. She is also proud to be the first woman to achieve the historic double. "I do think women, even now, are at something of a disadvantage in the whole literary process so, yes, it's a good breakthrough in that way," she said. I'm glad one of us has done it. I don't think it matters very much that it was me. The BBC is turning Wolf Hall into a lavish costume drama and Mantel also disclosed that both novels are being adapted for the stage by Mike Poulton, a playwright who has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company for many years. The RSC is in line to produce them. The author said she had turned down the idea of a full-length film in favour of the BBC Two drama, which will be broadcast next year. "There were approaches about a cinema version but we felt that the complexity of the subject matter would be better served by a treatment in six episodes, perhaps later moving on to a second series," she explained. Mantel refused to be drawn on her dream casting for Thomas Cromwell, saying: "I have sworn that I will not issue a wish-list." She plans to devote next year to finishing the final instalment in the trilogy, The Mirror and the Light, and admitted to feeling the pressure "because people's expectations are high. But, more than that, a lot of readers are caught up in this saga, as am I. I feel an obligation to give it everything I'm capable of. In an interview with BBC Radio 4"s Today programme yesterday, Mantel, 60, appeared to dismiss the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon as no substitute for "serious" literature. "I think it's a mistake to get too hung up on the sadomasochism business," she said, in reference to EL James's best-selling "mummy porn" books. "But what is important is that there is a healthy appetite for what people off-puttingly call "serious fiction." I have always thought fiction can be popular but it can also be good, and worth reading twice. Bring Up The Bodies had sold 106,000 copies before the Booker win, easily outstripping the other shortlisted titles. HarperCollins, Mantel's publisher, announced a new print run of 100,000 yesterday in order to keep up with demand.