Sir David Suchet, famed for playing Agatha Christie’s Belgian detective Poirot, nearly rejected the part, revealing his brother had advised against it.
He confessed to only reading the Poirot novels after accepting the role, which he would portray on television to great acclaim for almost 25 years.
Asked when he first read a Poirot novel, Suchet replied: “I may disappoint everybody – it was when I was offered the job. But I’m very grateful I did start.
“When I was first offered the job that came through, I wasn’t sure because my only acquaintance with the character had been through other depictions on film or television and they tended to be rather light and slightly comical.
“I didn’t know quite whether this should be the next move for me. I rang my brother John, and I said to him this is what I’ve been offered.
“He said, ‘Hercule Poirot? Dave, you are a classical theatre actor. Will you take my advice? Don’t touch it with a bargepole’.
“I thought I would read every single novel and very soon I realised that the character of Hercule Poirot was somebody that I’d never properly met, and if I hadn’t met him then I didn’t think that her readership had either or the future television audience.
“I had a mission, and my mission was to become the Hercule Poirot for Agatha Christie.”
Sir David was speaking at an event at the Cheltenham Literature Festival to discuss the enduring popularity of Christie who is seen as one of the greatest ever crime novelists having written 66 books and sold more than two billion copies.
He said while reading the Poirot novels he created a detailed list of the character’s personality, such as how many sugar lumps he took in tea or coffee, but also things he would not do.
“Over the 25 years there were lots of producers and directors that wanted to be more like the previous Poirots and I wouldn’t go there,” Sir David said.
“I became obsessed with this little man because I wanted to be absolutely him for Agatha Christie.
“I found a reason for acting and that was to serve my writers. If I could serve my writers, I would become that character for them.”
Since Christie’s death, Poirot has lived on as contemporary writers have continued to publish novels featuring the detective, and Sir David has turned down opportunities to resurrect his role.
“When I finished in 2013, I would have loved, and I really mean this, I would have loved to see if I could then, even though I died, I would resurrect him,” he said.
“I’d love to have had one movie on the main screen, I’d loved to have had that experience, purely technically and also to explore that.
“Now, I think, no, I can’t see how at my age now and what I have done in the body of work for Poirot, I can’t see myself now actually getting into another story by anybody else.
“I was asked to be in other adaptations by other writers who wrote Poirot books.
“But the title of my series was Agatha Christie’s Poirot and because it was Agatha Christie’s Poirot I still have that loyalty.
“And no, I won’t be in any other adaptations.”
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