Sir David Suchet on reading St John's Gospel

On this week’s podcast, Vicky Walker talks to the actor Sir David Suchet, whose reading of the whole of St John’s Gospel will be broadcast online on Easter Day at 4 p.m. The reading was recorded in the Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster Abbey, and will be streamed at www.youtube.com/c/WestminsterAbbeyLondon/. “I want the listener to feel very comfortable. I want you to be sitting with me,” he says. “And as I look into the camera, I’ll be looking at you. And I’m just reading to you. I may be speaking to what may amount to millions, but my tone is intimate, warm, friendly, not to push you away, but draw you in and just share it.” Sir David also talks in the interview about his conversion to Christianity and his journey of faith since. In 2015, Sir David, best-known for playing Agatha Christie’s fictional detective Hercule Poirot, recorded the first full-length audio version of the Bible, for the NIV Audio Bible App by Hodder & Stoughton (News, 1 January 2016). In 2017, he read the whole of St Mark’s Gospel aloud in the pulpit of St Paul’s Cathedral, to more than 2000 people (News, 7 April 2017). The video has received 2.4 million views online. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader.