CROSSING THE THRESHOLD

David Suchet is about to make his (long overdue!) Doctor Who début – playing the mysterious Landlord in Knock Knock…

INTERVIEW BY JOHN PHILLIPS

North London in early April, and a small studio on an industrial estate. Here’s David Suchet, and he’s quite taken with Doctor Who: The Fan Show’s furnishings.

“It’s a wonderful table!” he advises producer Chris Allen who bends in to remove it from the scene. Chris is deconstructing this morning’s set-up, having shot an interview with David and host Christel Dee for the BBC Worldwide YouTube series.

“Christel made it,” he tells the actor. “An Argos table and a roll of Doctor Who wallpaper.”

“Did she do that?” exclaims David. “She’s so creative!”

It’s a small moment, but one characteristic of David Suchet’s approach to life. He’s a multi-award-winning thespian who’s been in the business forever, and known around the globe as the definitive embodiment of Agatha Christie’s Hercules Poirot – a herculean feat, if you’ll pardon the pun, wherein, between 1989 and 2013, he starred in adaptations of every single novel and short story featuring the detective. Yet he can still work up enthusiasm for a spot of Time Lord decoupage.

In 20-or-so-minutes’ time, he will counsel DWM: “The most important thing about life, you speak to any philosopher or psychologist, is to live in the present. I’ve always said, if you live in the present, the present is the greatest gift you can be given.”

But that maxim is immediately apparent even before he gets to vocalising it. David works to find delight in almost everything. He also delights to work. Who would have thought the man awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to drama would have spent the previous evening streaming episodes of The Fan Show, so he could acclimatise himself to its metier?