Following on from his following in the footsteps of Saint Paul a couple of years ago, here’s David Suchet: In the Footsteps of St Peter (BBC1). Now he’s done with being Belgium’s greatest sleuth, the actor appears to have turned to stalking saints.
He begins at the end, in Rome, where Peter also met his, crucified upside down. Then it’s back to Peter’s beginning on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Sadly, David – oh, he of little faith – doesn’t attempt to follow in the footsteps of Saint Peter on the actual water. But he does witness another miracle of sorts: the feeding of 5,000 tourists wth fried Galilee tilapia, otherwise known as Saint Peter’s fish. (I thought the john dory was St Peter’s fish, but maybe that was later, when he came to the Mediterranean to become the first pope? Names in this story are confusing. Peter himself had several: Cephas, Simon and various words that mean “rock” – could rock salmon also be St Peter’s fish?)
Anyway, Peter was a simple fisherman, of course, so Suchet goes to see a beautiful, simple first-century fishing boat like the one Peter would have had. Then, he goes out on a more modern version to catch some fish for himself. Galilee is glassy smooth, and it’s hard to imagine a storm that required a further miracle to calm. Suchet isn’t a natural fisherman though, and he throws his catches back. (Though I bet the one he throws back is immediately devoured by one of those birds, just off camera.) Although he was very happy to devour a fried one at the tourist restaurant, weren’t you, Air Cool Poirot?
Suchet is a nice guide around the Holy Land though – clearly he knows more than he’s letting on, but he lets the experts, archaeologists, theologists, biblical scholars etc, do most of the talking. David listens, then helps to pass the message on. I think he would have made a half-decent apostle himself.
It’s a good day for this to go out on, Good Friday, even if it arguably wasn’t Peter’s finest hour. Funny time though: 9am. How many people watch telly at that ungodly hour?
