Oscar-winning film director Sam Mendes has told how he helped persuade the BBC to end its indecision over whether to commission hit TV series Call The Midwife.
The Sunday-evening drama has been a huge success for the British broadcaster, attracting audiences of more than 10 million.
Mendes' production company, Neal Street Productions, was sent Jennifer Worth's memoirs about life as a midwife in the 1950s.
But the British director's business partner Pippa Harris told the Radio Times that the BBC was dragging its feet about signing off the East End drama.
Skyfall director Mendes, whose credits also include American Beauty and the stage production of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, said that he helped persuade the BBC to commission the first series.
"Pippa asked me to play the 600lb gorilla, so I made a call and asked them why they weren't making the show. That seemed to work," he said.
Mendes said that he wanted to make a TV series as gripping as US mobster drama The Sopranos.
"That was one of the greatest examples of long-form narrative art produced in the past 25 years, with its own unique universe," he said.
"Who wouldn't dream of making something equal to that?"
