Poirot actor honoured in end of year list

Poirot actor David Suchet is among those honoured by the Queen in the New Year's Honours list.

Enjoying a career spanning some four decades, the British actor is still best recognised for his role as TV sleuth Hercule Poirot, a character based on the series of books by novelist Agatha Christie.

Over the festive season, Suchet could be seen playing the detective in one of Christie's most famous murder mysteries, Murder on the Orient Express, which sees 12 train passengers fall under suspicion when one of their fellow travellers is brutally stabbed in the night.

As well as his role in the detective drama, Suchet has played Cardinal Wolsey in the ITV show Henry VIII and has also portrayed legendary psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud in a 1980s TV BBC drama.

Noted for his publicity-shy manner, Suchet told the Jewish Chronicle back in May this year that he is not "into stardom".

"I don't really want people to see me," he told the magazine.