FLICKY HARRISON meets an actor who is channelling Poirot’s little grey cells

Jason Durr, better known as PC Mike Bradley in Heartbeat, is not daunted by his latest role of Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie’s Black Coffee.

Following in the footsteps of David Suchet on TV and Robert Powell on stage has not fazed him at all, any more than when he donned his deerstalker hat for Sherlock Holmes.

The actor simply approaches the iconic part by becoming a detective himself and delving into the books.

He said: “It is all there in the writing, the clues of character are all there. All you have to do is read the books,” he said.

“There is a huge love for Poirot, the audience come in with a love for Christie and her characters, so it is incumbent on me to reincarnate him.”

Jason and the cast of Black Coffee will be heading for Swindon’s Wyvern Theatre from Monday, September 1 to Saturday, September 6 – and as Jason and his family live in Wiltshire he will be able to go home each night.

“I am looking forward to that and to working in the Swindon theatre,” he said.

Jason admits to being a Christie fan and says that the audience is always in the back of his mind when preparing for a national tour.

“I come to it fresh, blow cobwebs away and make it new by grabbing the nettle,” he said. “I did try to grow the moustache but it was too short a time.”

Despite his six years in Aidensfield Police station on Heartbeat, Jason has not always been on the right side of the law professionally, playing a pathological killer and a murder suspect in the popular drama Above Suspicion.

He is obviously a favourite for detective stories, as he has appeared in Lewis, Midsomer Murders and another Agatha Christie favourite, Miss Marple, but he refuses to be typecast.

“I have been fortunate in my career and had a broad range of parts,” he said.

“What I choose comes down to script, character and the plot. I have a liking for super sleuths like Sherlock, they are great tales and I enjoy that genre.”

He says he thoroughly enjoyed his time on Heartbeat, but he always knows when a part has run its course.

“It was time to broaden my horizons, but I made some great friends in the cast and crew,” he said.

More recently, and in complete contrast, the actor starred alongside Jemma Redgrave in Michael Frayne’s Donkey Years.

Jason is married to Kate, a former TV presenter, who he met 14 years ago, and they have three children, but he says he will let them choose what career they wish to follow and not push them into showbiz.

“Whatever makes them happy, that’s what is important,” he said.

 

  • Tickets to see Black Coffee at the Wyvern are £17.50 to £28.50. The play runs from September 1 to 6. To book, call 01793 524481 or visit swindontheatres.co.uk