When exposed to the calibre and ‘textual precision’ of Harold Pinter’s dialogue in the adaptation of Robin Maugham’s The Servant, Bogarde tweaked a few lines but very carefully and reverently: ‘I remember Harold came on the set one day and I extended a speech because I had to go up a staircase rather quickly and it left me with three stairs to go at the top without any dialogue. So I had to invent a litany of “Who looks after you? Who does the cooking? Who washes your pants?” It got me to the top of the stairs, but obviously the lines weren’t Harold’s. Anyway, he heard what I’d said, considered it, chewed it over like a cow with cud and then said, “All right, you can use it.” But that kind of addition was a very rare event because you just don’t find writers of his calibre in cinema. You just don’t find people who write that kind of dialogue.’ (Billington, 153)