David Suchet
Desert Island Discs: Archive 2005-2010
BBC
4.4 • 804 Ratings
🗓️ 8 February 2009
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the actor David Suchet. He has won armfuls of awards for his work - most recently an Emmy for his portrayal of Robert Maxwell - but he is best known for the character he has been associated with for 20 years, Hercule Poirot.
His approach to his work is meticulous and he says he has to inhabit each role he takes on. In this illuminating interview he recalls how, early in his career, a psychologist showed him how to shed his character at the end of each performance otherwise, he found, the edges between his own life and those of the person he was playing became blurred.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: When I Fall In Love by Nat King Cole Book: Magnum Magnum by Brigitte Lardinois Luxury: His clarinet and an unlimited supply of reeds.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi, it's Nicola Cochlin. Young people have been making history for years, but we don't often hear about them. My brand new series on BBC Sounds sets out to put this right. In history's youngest heroes, I'll be revealing the fascinating stories of 12 young people who've played a major role in history and who've helped shape our world. Like Audrey Hepburn, Nelson Mandela, Louis Braille and Lady Jane Grey, |
| 0:24.7 | history's youngest heroes with me, Nicola Cochlin. |
| 0:27.8 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.4 | Hello, I'm Krista Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. |
| 0:35.5 | For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music. |
| 0:38.6 | The program was originally broadcast in 2009. |
| 1:00.9 | My My castaway this week is the actor David Suchay. |
| 1:05.6 | Fresh from winning an Emmy for his portrayal of the fallen media tycoon Robert Maxwell, |
| 1:10.1 | he has been a constant presence on stage and screen for almost 25 years. From Shakespeare to Mamet, meticulous |
| 1:13.0 | characterizations and nuanced performances are his trademark, never more apparent than in probably |
| 1:18.6 | his best known role, Agatha Christie's Poirot. He says of his technique, I have to inhabit the |
| 1:25.3 | people I play. I have to get underneath their skin. I'm fascinated by them, the same way I'm fascinated by people. So David Suchet, I have heard that you read all 80 of the stories that had been written both short stories and novels about Urquil Poirot before beginning the role. Is that true? |
| 1:45.5 | Yeah, well, it's almost true. |
| 1:47.9 | I won't say I've read every single one, |
| 1:52.4 | but I read, I would suppose, very close to the complete canon. And I literally set out to create only the character that Agatha Christie created, |
| 2:00.3 | nothing else, |
| 2:01.6 | and then spent many, many, many, many weeks practicing, practicing, practicing. |
| 2:08.5 | With Poirot and the others that we are going to talk about, and there have been many, |
| 2:12.5 | how do you manage to put them away? |
| 2:14.9 | Once they're real, where do they go? |
| 2:16.8 | They can't just vanish surely. Do you sometimes pass in and out of character when you're to put them away? Once they're real, where do they go? They can't just vanish, surely. |
| 2:18.1 | Do you sometimes pass in and out of character when you're in your real life? |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.