Talking faith… TV and stage star David Suchet spent 78 hours reading the Bible for a new audio book.
Poirot legend and committed Christian David Suchet has fulfilled what he describes as a ‘27-year ambition’ to make an audio recording of the entire Bible.
The 78-hour product – set for release this Easter – will be the first full-length audio Bible spoken by a single British actor.
Suchet, famed for his role as popular Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, spent over 200 hours in the recording studio filming the series of his hit detective TV series.
The 67-year-old became a Christian in 1986 and realised that he wanted to use his platform as an actor to share his faith.
He said: “I thought, ‘Well one thing I can do, or I think I can do, is to read’, and I’ve for many, many years felt that I wanted to put my voice to the Bible, and not only bits of the Bible, but the whole thing. It will, for me, fulfil what I suppose is a 27-year ambition.”
Suchet also reminds viewers of the biblical command to ‘hear the word of the Lord’, which can be found throughout Scripture, including Isaiah 28:14, Ezekiel 27:4 and Acts 13:44.
He added: “It doesn’t say, ‘Read the word of the Lord,’ it says, ‘Hear the word of the Lord.’ It’s my prayer that it will be fresh and [those listening] will think, ‘God, this is fantastic.’
“I’m a Christian by faith. I like to think it sees me through a great deal of my life. I very much believe in the principles of Christianity, that one has to abandon oneself to a higher good.
“I think to accept the now and to live in the present is the most important thing for all of us to learn to do, to be able to live in the present and not let the quality of the present be coloured by the fear or anxiety of the future or the pain of the past.”
Suchet has big dreams for the recording, the fee for which he is donating entirely to charity.
“What I hope from a personal point of view, is that whoever wants to will be able to read the Bible at the same time as listen to it, or listen to it without reading it, and that they will want to keep returning to it.
“But in practical terms, I have done it and I must leave it to the far higher being, and let him do what he wants with it.”
The audio book will be sold in CD and digital formats and enhanced eBook will also be available from Hodder Faith.
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