On the same topic, do you think being a female director actually affects the way you direct?

Not really. It would be very different if any different director made it.

I agree. But the camera lingers a lot on the women in The Night Manager – isn't there enough of that in film and TV made by male directors?

Yes but it also lingers on the men... on human beings in general... because it’s part of the story. It's erotic and it needs to have that element. Sex or love or whatever shape it is, is part of the story. I embrace it if it's real and it works and it’s part of what’s going on. If it’s just there for the sake of it, then yes, I despise it.

What’s it like working on a television series, as opposed to a feature film?

Fantastic. I love having more material: six hours instead of an hour and a half. It allows me to get deeper with minor characters in a totally different way to the feature film format. There’s a depth to the TV form... an epic scale. It’s also hugely demanding shooting it because it's shot like a feature film: in a totally random order. Morning could be 'Scene 15, Episode 2' and lunchtime 'Scene 60, Episode 6'. It’s quite challenging.

You’ve written a lot about what it’s like to be a female filmmaker – what needs to change to make the industry a better place for women?

Well I really believe the movies being made and stories we are telling need to represent the diversity of society more. I’m talking about women and other minorities. Film needs to develop in that respect. If you talk about action films or whatever, the fact that not more of them are made by women is pure convention – pure habitual thinking. I think there is a convention that they’re always going to go for the male director over the female, even though that’s not necessarily the best option.

You've said there should be an Oscars category for Best Female Director?

I was saying that for a joke. If there were a best Oscar for female director it might make more movies by women possible, but I don’t want to put female directors in a minority category. It was just a thought experiment. But we do need more women making films, to tell women’s stories.