David Suchet on why he nearly turned down Poirot
The award-winning actor on nearly passing up the chance to play the famous sleuth, and falling in love at first sight with his wife.
The award-winning actor on nearly passing up the chance to play the famous sleuth, and falling in love at first sight with his wife.
I was offered the TV role of Hercule Poirot aged 42, and I only knew him from what I’d seen on screen. He seemed a bit of a lightweight. Peter Ustinov’s Poirot was sort of jokey. I’d been a classical actor since I was 23, and didn’t know whether taking on the role was something I should do.
So, I rang my brother [renowned journalist John Suchet], who is very clever, to ask what he thought. He said, "If you want my advice, I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole!" But I started reading Agatha Christie’s novels and was blown away because the little man I met in her books was not the man I’d seen on screen.
I wanted to show the character she'd actually written about in such detail. I had to find his voice – how he would dress and behave. I wrote down 93 of his characteristics. One we share is symmetry. I always straighten pictures on walls like him.
After playing Poirot for a quarter of a century, he became part of me, so I miss him terribly.
I’m 80 in May and I’m going to spend my birthday doing nothing other than saying a little prayer of thanks. But in June, it’s my golden wedding anniversary, and that's an occasion my wife Sheila and I will celebrate beyond belief.
We met in the 1970s when we were acting together in Dracula at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. For me, it was love at first sight. We spoke for five minutes and I thought, "This girl is phenomenal!" As she walked away, I was already missing her.
I returned to my dressing room and said to a fellow actor: "I’ve met the girl I want to marry." I couldn’t get a date with her for weeks, and she was on stage being bitten on the neck by Dracula every night, which drove me crazy!
My wife is responsible for my whole career, which is dependent on her love and support. In the early 1980s, my career started taking off. I was getting so much work and I wasn’t home that much. She sacrificed her career for the children and me. I just dread the time if I’m ever alone without her.
My favourite books as a child growing up in London were by Enid Blyton, but I read Charles Dickens for my school exams. Apart from his wonderful plotlines, he deals with the universal qualities of the human condition, which make his stories timeless.
As a young actor, I played Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, so when I was asked to put my voice to the book and six other great ghost stories for the podcast Charles Dickens Ghost Stories, I jumped at the chance. If this podcast can attract listeners to revisit Dickens’ iconic work, we’ll take an audience into some of the best writing that’s ever been created.
Sir David Suchet lends his iconic voice as narrator of the new podcast, Charles Dickens Ghost Stories.
[Hero image credit: Getty Images]
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