'Peter Ustinov said I was the better Poirot'
He is the star of the only British drama to be shown in every territory in the world, with a staggering 700 million viewers. It’s safe to say, then, that David Suchet has become a bit of an icon.
But the sleuth’s story is about to come to an end. The final four films featuring the world-famous Belgian detective and his equally celebrated moustache have been screening on ITV , and Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case, which will be aired on 13 November, will see Suchet’s time as the world’s greatest detective come to a dramatic end. We won’t give away the plot, but let’s just say that it’s set to be one of the television events of the decade.
As the first actor to appear in the television adaptations of every Poirot story Agatha Christie ever wrote, how does Suchet feel about the detective’s curtain call?
‘You suddenly realise, although you never knew it, that you’ve reached Everest. And having suddenly stood on the top of Everest, that you never expected to climb it,’ he says. ‘There is a strange mixture of “Oh, I now have to say goodbye because I’ve done it,” and euphoria for exactly the same reason.
‘It’s time for him to go. The book [Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case] has been on our shelves since 1975. Anybody can read it so nobody should be too surprised, especially fans of Agatha Christie. She felt it was time.’
Sophie Hannah is in the process of writing a new Poirot novel. But while Suchet will never say never, it rather looks as if he wouldn’t take on the role again if it were adapted for television.
‘I think for television, I don’t see how I can revive myself for a story that is not Agatha Christie. I’d love to do a remake of one of the stories for a movie. I’d love to do The ABC Murders, my favourite, and there is nothing to stop me reprising the role for the cinema. But as far as a new Poirot is concerned, I think it’s time for me.
‘It was extraordinary preparing for the end,’ he continues. ‘It was the hardest shoot of my life and that’s not me being theatrical. I’ve lived with this man for 25 years and I had to say goodbye to a dear, dear friend.
‘I just thank God that I had three more films in front of me [the last episode was filmed first as he had to lose two stone for the part], that I could be him again. If we had left filming the final episode till last, I would have found it very hard; it would have taken a very big toll on me.’
Some old faces reappear alongside Suchet in the final films, including Hastings (Hugh Fraser), Assistant Commissioner Japp (Philip Jackson), and Miss Lemon (Pauline Moran).
‘I’ve missed Hugh, Philip and Pauline. They were in the original with me and it was just as though they had never left. The relationship between us was exactly the same as it was when we finished being together last time. It was very lovely.’
But while it’s surprising to hear, there were times when Suchet wasn’t sure whether all of the Poirot films would be made.
‘Apart from year one, where I did 10 short stories and had the option to do one other, I’ve never been optioned. Every year, it has been a case of “will you do it again?” There was a time when I read in the Daily Mirror that I’d decided to do no more… Where did that come from?’ he laughs.
‘I never anticipated what was going to happen. I kept saying to my agent, are we doing it or not? I hoped it would be possible, but I was never sure. It was only when they shot Curtain that I knew they had to do the rest. They couldn’t not. But it wasn’t until then that I could be sure we would do the rest, and that’s the honest truth. ’
Suchet is now synonymous with Poirot, but the actor remains strikingly modest about it. ‘No, I’ve never had the feeling of that. I’ve just been doing a job every year,’ he says.
‘Christie wrote all of these wonderful books and now all of a sudden I’ve done them and you suddenly realise that TV history has been made. It’s a surprise to me in a way, like when you ask an inventor and they won’t tell you how they discovered things. It all happened by accident.’
He is humbled to know that Christie’s family is among his fans.
‘The raison d’être for me as an actor is to serve my writers. That’s why I am an actor and why I chose to become one. I’m not interested in fame, money, Hollywood or anything like that. So when I chose to do Agatha Christie’s Poirot, that was my raison d’être, to try and get it right for her.
‘The first time I had any idea that she would have been pleased, and I was very nervous because she hated her characters being shown on television, was when her daughter, the late Rosalind Hicks, said to me, “I think my mother would have been delighted.” And that, coming from her, was quite something. Now that her grandson Mathew is also saying it, I’m just thrilled to bits. The fact that her daughter and her grandson think that she would have enjoyed my interpretation makes me humbly proud.’
But once he removes the waxed moustache and loses the Belgian accent, is Suchet ever recognised by his millions of Poirot fans?
‘The answer is yes,’ he laughs. ‘I think it’s to do with three things – well, my wife says it is anyway: the shape of my head, my voice and my eyes.
‘On one occasion, during making a film in Canada, I was in a coffee house. I always face the wall so as not to get recognised, and the coffee house was a big one so there was even more anonymity. I was just sitting there, having a coffee, when somewhere in the distance was a scream. Then a woman, bless her heart, ran across the room, looked at my wife and said, “I’d know the back of that head anywhere.” She then planted a whopper on my cheek, which my wife was not too pleased about, then thanked me very much and disappeared.’
Remarkably, Suchet’s stint as Poirot could have ended almost before it began – because of a simple handkerchief. Christie had often written about Poirot sitting on his handkerchief, but in one of the early films, the director had told Suchet not to, and it sparked a bit of an altercation. ‘If Agatha Christie writes that Poirot dusts dirty chairs, and sits on his handkerchief on park benches, then I will show it,’ says Suchet. ‘And if a director says to me that it looks odd and that I shouldn’t do it, then I’ll say I’m sorry but that’s what he does. And if the time comes when it’s make or break, I will walk. I will not compromise the character.
‘It was very serious because, as charming as I may appear, when it comes to defence of character or my work, I will fight, and not compromise.
‘There will be directors throughout my 44-year career who have had a hard time with me because I will serve my writer. I will not ever be told how to play a role; that’s my job. If I’m going to be creative, as an artist or a musician is creative, then I’m an interpreter and if I’m not allowed my interpretation, then I’m a puppet and I can’t act that way.
‘I will say this openly and honestly: in defence of the character, I would have walked at some points if I didn’t have the support of my producers.’
Towards the end of his time as Poirot, however, Suchet was always given complete creative freedom. He even created a list of traits for his character that were non-negotiable and were handed to each new producer.
‘I had a lot more say in the script, not in casting so much, but certainly if there were things in the script that I thought Poirot wouldn’t do, then I really had that voice. I also had carte blanche to put my lines into Poirotspeak, which is quite a big job.’
Before Suchet took the part of Poirot, he played Inspector Japp to Peter Ustinov’s Poirot.
‘I remember saying to Peter, “God, I’d love to play that role” – and even when I was playing Japp, he turned around to me and said, “I think you’d play him jolly well, too.”’
Hearing Suchet talk about his character with such fervour, I wonder how protective he is of the role and how he would feel if, in years to come, someone else wore the moustache.
‘All of my roles, I’ve taken over from other people and other people have taken over from me. There will be another Poirot, of course, and I will look forward to it, and encourage him in exactly the same way another great actor, Peter Ustinov, encouraged me. He said very openly, “Oh, you’re a much better Poirot than I ever was.”’
But after bringing the world’s greatest detective to life for 25 years, could Suchet crack a crime if the need ever arose?
‘I wouldn’t be so conceited. I suppose I could look at crime and see it through his eyes, see it through his brain, but crime-solving is so extraordinarily sophisticated now; he would find it very hard to compete today.
‘But he is still the greatest detective in the world.’
Watch Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case on ITV1 on 13 November at 8pm.
But the sleuth’s story is about to come to an end. The final four films featuring the world-famous Belgian detective and his equally celebrated moustache have been screening on ITV , and Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case, which will be aired on 13 November, will see Suchet’s time as the world’s greatest detective come to a dramatic end. We won’t give away the plot, but let’s just say that it’s set to be one of the television events of the decade.
As the first actor to appear in the television adaptations of every Poirot story Agatha Christie ever wrote, how does Suchet feel about the detective’s curtain call?
‘You suddenly realise, although you never knew it, that you’ve reached Everest. And having suddenly stood on the top of Everest, that you never expected to climb it,’ he says. ‘There is a strange mixture of “Oh, I now have to say goodbye because I’ve done it,” and euphoria for exactly the same reason.
‘It’s time for him to go. The book [Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case] has been on our shelves since 1975. Anybody can read it so nobody should be too surprised, especially fans of Agatha Christie. She felt it was time.’
Sophie Hannah is in the process of writing a new Poirot novel. But while Suchet will never say never, it rather looks as if he wouldn’t take on the role again if it were adapted for television.
‘I think for television, I don’t see how I can revive myself for a story that is not Agatha Christie. I’d love to do a remake of one of the stories for a movie. I’d love to do The ABC Murders, my favourite, and there is nothing to stop me reprising the role for the cinema. But as far as a new Poirot is concerned, I think it’s time for me.
‘It was extraordinary preparing for the end,’ he continues. ‘It was the hardest shoot of my life and that’s not me being theatrical. I’ve lived with this man for 25 years and I had to say goodbye to a dear, dear friend.
‘I just thank God that I had three more films in front of me [the last episode was filmed first as he had to lose two stone for the part], that I could be him again. If we had left filming the final episode till last, I would have found it very hard; it would have taken a very big toll on me.’
Some old faces reappear alongside Suchet in the final films, including Hastings (Hugh Fraser), Assistant Commissioner Japp (Philip Jackson), and Miss Lemon (Pauline Moran).
‘I’ve missed Hugh, Philip and Pauline. They were in the original with me and it was just as though they had never left. The relationship between us was exactly the same as it was when we finished being together last time. It was very lovely.’
But while it’s surprising to hear, there were times when Suchet wasn’t sure whether all of the Poirot films would be made.
‘Apart from year one, where I did 10 short stories and had the option to do one other, I’ve never been optioned. Every year, it has been a case of “will you do it again?” There was a time when I read in the Daily Mirror that I’d decided to do no more… Where did that come from?’ he laughs.
‘I never anticipated what was going to happen. I kept saying to my agent, are we doing it or not? I hoped it would be possible, but I was never sure. It was only when they shot Curtain that I knew they had to do the rest. They couldn’t not. But it wasn’t until then that I could be sure we would do the rest, and that’s the honest truth. ’
Suchet is now synonymous with Poirot, but the actor remains strikingly modest about it. ‘No, I’ve never had the feeling of that. I’ve just been doing a job every year,’ he says.
‘Christie wrote all of these wonderful books and now all of a sudden I’ve done them and you suddenly realise that TV history has been made. It’s a surprise to me in a way, like when you ask an inventor and they won’t tell you how they discovered things. It all happened by accident.’
He is humbled to know that Christie’s family is among his fans.
‘The raison d’être for me as an actor is to serve my writers. That’s why I am an actor and why I chose to become one. I’m not interested in fame, money, Hollywood or anything like that. So when I chose to do Agatha Christie’s Poirot, that was my raison d’être, to try and get it right for her.
‘The first time I had any idea that she would have been pleased, and I was very nervous because she hated her characters being shown on television, was when her daughter, the late Rosalind Hicks, said to me, “I think my mother would have been delighted.” And that, coming from her, was quite something. Now that her grandson Mathew is also saying it, I’m just thrilled to bits. The fact that her daughter and her grandson think that she would have enjoyed my interpretation makes me humbly proud.’
But once he removes the waxed moustache and loses the Belgian accent, is Suchet ever recognised by his millions of Poirot fans?
‘The answer is yes,’ he laughs. ‘I think it’s to do with three things – well, my wife says it is anyway: the shape of my head, my voice and my eyes.
‘On one occasion, during making a film in Canada, I was in a coffee house. I always face the wall so as not to get recognised, and the coffee house was a big one so there was even more anonymity. I was just sitting there, having a coffee, when somewhere in the distance was a scream. Then a woman, bless her heart, ran across the room, looked at my wife and said, “I’d know the back of that head anywhere.” She then planted a whopper on my cheek, which my wife was not too pleased about, then thanked me very much and disappeared.’
Remarkably, Suchet’s stint as Poirot could have ended almost before it began – because of a simple handkerchief. Christie had often written about Poirot sitting on his handkerchief, but in one of the early films, the director had told Suchet not to, and it sparked a bit of an altercation. ‘If Agatha Christie writes that Poirot dusts dirty chairs, and sits on his handkerchief on park benches, then I will show it,’ says Suchet. ‘And if a director says to me that it looks odd and that I shouldn’t do it, then I’ll say I’m sorry but that’s what he does. And if the time comes when it’s make or break, I will walk. I will not compromise the character.
‘It was very serious because, as charming as I may appear, when it comes to defence of character or my work, I will fight, and not compromise.
‘There will be directors throughout my 44-year career who have had a hard time with me because I will serve my writer. I will not ever be told how to play a role; that’s my job. If I’m going to be creative, as an artist or a musician is creative, then I’m an interpreter and if I’m not allowed my interpretation, then I’m a puppet and I can’t act that way.
‘I will say this openly and honestly: in defence of the character, I would have walked at some points if I didn’t have the support of my producers.’
Towards the end of his time as Poirot, however, Suchet was always given complete creative freedom. He even created a list of traits for his character that were non-negotiable and were handed to each new producer.
‘I had a lot more say in the script, not in casting so much, but certainly if there were things in the script that I thought Poirot wouldn’t do, then I really had that voice. I also had carte blanche to put my lines into Poirotspeak, which is quite a big job.’
Before Suchet took the part of Poirot, he played Inspector Japp to Peter Ustinov’s Poirot.
‘I remember saying to Peter, “God, I’d love to play that role” – and even when I was playing Japp, he turned around to me and said, “I think you’d play him jolly well, too.”’
Hearing Suchet talk about his character with such fervour, I wonder how protective he is of the role and how he would feel if, in years to come, someone else wore the moustache.
‘All of my roles, I’ve taken over from other people and other people have taken over from me. There will be another Poirot, of course, and I will look forward to it, and encourage him in exactly the same way another great actor, Peter Ustinov, encouraged me. He said very openly, “Oh, you’re a much better Poirot than I ever was.”’
But after bringing the world’s greatest detective to life for 25 years, could Suchet crack a crime if the need ever arose?
‘I wouldn’t be so conceited. I suppose I could look at crime and see it through his eyes, see it through his brain, but crime-solving is so extraordinarily sophisticated now; he would find it very hard to compete today.
‘But he is still the greatest detective in the world.’
Watch Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case on ITV1 on 13 November at 8pm.