David Suchet will never watch Kenneth Branagh's Poirot

David Suchet on why he will never watch Kenneth Branagh's Poirot

What did you miss?

Sir David Suchet has said he will never watch Sir Kenneth Branagh play Hercule Poirot, as he does not want to be critical. The 77-year-old actor played Agatha Christie's Belgian detective for 25 years in the TV drama and filmed every single one of the writer's Poirot mysteries. Since he stepped down Branagh has starred and directed in three of his own Poirot films for the big screen.

What, how, and why?

Suchet appeared on Good Morning Britain to discuss his current stage tour in which he discusses his time playing Poirot over 13 series and 70 episodes in the ITV drama, before he officially retired the role in 2013.

Ed Balls asked if Suchet had any criticism of Branagh's Poirot. He said: "No, no. He does it in his own way and that's fine. I don't [critique him] I've never seen them. I deliberately don't because in the early days when Ken started the national press rang me up because they wanted me to say critical things about it. So I thought the best thing to do is never watch it. No comment. I wish him well. It's a great role. Everybody tries to do their best."

Suchet filmed his last episode of Poirot in 2013, including the famous literary detective's death in Curtain: Poirot's Last Case, based on the 1975 novel of the same name. Branagh began playing Poirot in his film adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express in 2017, making him the latest in a long line of actors to play the role on screen.

Suchet said: "No actor should ever own a role. I had great fortune, I had the chance to do 25 years and every single story that was ever written for Poirot. What an honour. And there will be new Poirots. And going on there will be people after Ken. Poirot had a life before me and I'm just one."

What else happened on Good Morning Britain?

Suchet also revealed that he has never watched The Crown as he knew the late Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family too well. Susanna Reid asked if he had seen the hit Netflix drama. Suchet replied: "No, I haven't actually. I don't want t see it. That's just my taste. I knew them quite well. They're a lovely family."

Asked how he had felt personally about the death of the queen he said: "It was a huge loss. It was a huge loss for the nation as well. But now we've got King Charles who is wonderful, who I knew you as the Prince of Wales. He was the chairman of the Royal Shakespeare theatre company and we used to have governors meetings and things like that, I got to know him a little bit then."

Good Morning Britain airs on ITV from 6am to 9am from Monday to Friday.

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