This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.
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What's the view from your sofa?
My wife [actor Sheila Ferris] and I rent a place in Wiltshire so we can be near family. It’s surrounded by farmland. There can be up to six of the most beautiful horses and they will take carrots from our hands from over the fence. It’s the most extraordinary place to go to after London, to sit there and be so in nature. It’s the best view I’ve ever had, apart from the view from my sofa in my little narrowboat, which is very special, and that changes daily.
What do you like about having a narrowboat?
It’s our great escape. It gives me total privacy, but I can also meet people. I have more freedom on the canals than I do anywhere. Sheila’s and my first home was a narrowboat. We’ve had four now. Our current boat is called Sonnet.
Next year, you'll have been married for 50 years. What's the secret?
Marry the person you feel you can’t live without, not the person you feel you can live with. I fell in love with my wife at first sight – I couldn’t even bear her leaving the room. Laughter is also vital.
David Suchet as Hercule Poirot. Getty
What do you enjoy on television?
I watch factual, nature and political programmes. I really love animals. I’m very intrigued by what’s under the sea: it’s another world that we still don’t know much about.
What made you say yes to The Au Pair, your first series in six years?
The Au Pair was the first thing I had to do, it was a real page-turner. Other roles I was offered were nice, but repetitious and not quite challenging enough.
In it, you play George, who's looked after by his daughter Zoe (Sally Bretton) and her husband Chris (Kenny Doughty) when they hire a mysterious French au pair. How do you think we treat older people in the UK?
I’m coming up to 79, I’m attending more funerals, and I’m aware of a certain ageism in our society, but I think that’s in all societies. People are living longer, but the NHS suffers. What do we do with our increasingly aged population? Generally speaking, I think we’re very well looked after.
What did you think of older people when you were younger?
I always had a great deference for older people, because I was sent away to boarding school at the very young age of eight, and stayed there until I was 18. But older people were always authoritarian, so I was wary of them.
What was your experience of boarding school like?
Awful, I wouldn’t wish it on anybody. It was very tough and you grow up very quickly. People say, “How could your parents do such a thing?”, but I was born in 1946 in London. My dad did the very best he could do to get us [Suchet and his brothers John and Peter] out of London and into a place where there was no rationing. We had three square meals a day, and we had education and support. It just didn’t suit me because I was a homeboy.
You played Hercule Poirot for 25 years — how does the legacy live on?
I was touring with my one-man show, Poirot and More, a Retrospective, and one night, there was a nine-year-old dressed as Poirot, moustache and all, with the little flower-vase lapel pin and wearing spats. I meet all generations now, and that’s the most flattering part of my life as an actor!
What do you think of Kenneth Branagh and John Malkovich's modern interpretations of the character?
I have never watched them, with very good reason – I’m able to say I have no opinion. I get asked the same question in every interview, and most people are looking for me to say I don’t like them. I sincerely wish everybody who plays that wonderful character the best.
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The Au Pair will air on Monday 10th March at 9pm on Channel 5 and My5.
Laura Rutkowski is the Junior Commissioning Editor at Radio Times magazine, where she looks after a column called "What it's like to…", which spotlights behind-the-scenes roles within the TV and film industry – from stunt coordinators to costume designers. She loves finding out how productions are made and enjoys covering a wide variety of genres. Laura is half-American and half-British and joined Radio Times in 2022. She has a degree in Psychology and a Master's in Magazine Journalism.
