GUEST COLUMN
David Suchet
The world according to…
The award-winning actor, 79, on nearly turning down the role of Hercule Poirot 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!’