Inside Poirot star David Suchet’s 48-year marriage to beloved wife Sheila Ferris

David Suchet has called time on solving crimes, but the legendary Poirot actor remains in high demand. Set to star in Au Pair alongside Vera’s Kenny Doughty, not to mention Beyond Paradise favourite, Sally Bretton, the series is slated to premiere on Channel 5. 

© Ron Galella

For David, 78, retirement isn’t on the cards just yet. Residing in south-west London, the star has returned to the theatre in recent years, appearing in a 2023 production of Peter Pan. No role has ever been off the table for David, and in a 2020 interview with the New Zealand Herald, he praised his beloved wife, Sheila Ferris, for her unwavering support.  

“I consider myself the most blessed individual to have a wife like I’ve had…I have a wife who has never, ever said no to anything that I wanted to do or any role I wanted to play as an actor,” he gushed. 

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It was in 1972 that David met his future wife. Like something out of an Old Hollywood film, the actor laid eyes on Sheila as she descended a staircase at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. It was love at first sight. 

“It never crossed my mind that I might get a girlfriend, let alone marry,” David admitted to The Telegraph. “When I did, I was as astonished as anyone else.” 

By 1976, the happy couple had tied the knot and went on to welcome three children. Their son, Robert, is a former Royal Marine Captain, while their daughter, Katherine, works as a physiotherapist. 

During his time on Poirot, Sheila would get up at 4:30am to help him learn his lines, and while he was shooting a difficult denouement scene in Murder on the Orient Express, she sat in the adjacent carriage for moral support.  

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As of 2024, David and Sheila have been married for 48 years, and the British icon has continued to speak highly of her in interviews. 

“I’ve been married to my wife Sheila for over 40 years and I believe the secret is that we take the lows with the highs, accept that the most difficult mountains you have to climb are those that forge your relationship – not the champagne dinners – and that we laugh a lot,” the 78-year-old remarked to Yours. 

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“I must be the most difficult person that she has to live with,” David quipped to The Guardian in 2013. “But we’re still there! And we’re very aware that time is running out, so we try and make the most of what we have together.”

With their 50th wedding anniversary on the horizon, David and Sheila sound more in love than ever. During the 2020 lockdown, they spent their evenings listening to classical music, and they also had a sweet nighttime ritual. “One thing I can do is read out loud. So I’m reading Sheila a Shakespeare sonnet a day” he shared with The Telegraph. It doesn’t get more romantic than yet.