Sir David Suchet has revealed that he almost didn't play Poirot as he originally wanted to become a doctor.
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The actor, who is best-known for playing Agatha Christie's iconic detective, Hercule Poirot, told presenters Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary on This Morning that he didn't want to go into performing at first.
WATCH: Sir David Suchet reveals he originally wanted to be a doctor
"I wanted, originally, to be a doctor," he said. "My father was a surgeon and then I realised I didn't really have the science knowledge and capability to become that."
He continued: "And then I wanted to be a documentary film cameraman and that didn't work, that was sort of a catch-22 situation, you couldn't get a job without a union card and you couldn't get a union card unless you had a job, so that didn't work for me."
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He then went on to describe the moment that made him realise his vocation, saying that "something happened" during a performance with the National Youth Theatre at The Royal Court Theatre that made him "want to spend the rest of my life in that wonderful atmosphere".
Sir David revealed that he originally wanted to be a doctor
While on the show, Sir David also revealed that he never had a permanent contract while playing the iconic detective. "I never ever had a running contract over those 25 years, after every year I was out of work," he said. "I never knew if I was ever going to come back, it all depended on audience figures and advertising and money… I was just waiting to hear whether I could come back."
The Poirot actor, who was granted the title of Knight Bachelor for services to drama and charity in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for 2020, appeared on the ITV show to promote his theatre production, Sir David Suchet’s Poirot and More, A Retrospective, which is running at the Harold Pinter Theatre until 22 Jan 2022.
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