Beloved TV Star Explains Why He Was Axed After 12 Years on Show

Hugh Fraser, the familiar face who brought Captain Hastings to life alongside David Suchet’s iconic Hercule Poirot on Agatha Christie‘s Poirot, has revealed the behind-the-scenes decision that dramatically reduced his screen time in the acclaimed detective series after more than a decade of investigations.

The British actor, who portrayed Poirot’s loyal friend for 43 episodes between 1989 and 2001 before briefly returning in 2013, explained that his diminishing presence wasn’t due to personal differences but rather a creative shift in production philosophy.

“After about 10 years I suppose, there was a change of producers and they decided to remain faithful to the characters that were in the original books, and hence I wasn’t in the series as often as I had been early on,” Fraser disclosed in a candid interview with Blog About the Box.

This production decision reflected a renewed commitment to Christie’s original material, as Captain Hastings doesn’t appear in many of the author’s later Poirot stories. While Fraser featured in the majority of the early episodes, particularly the short story adaptations, his character was gradually phased out as the series progressed through Christie’s novels.

Fraser’s connection to the source material predated his casting, as he admitted being an avid Christie reader in his youth. “I’d read the Christie books when I was quite young. When I was about 13-14, I read most of them, I think. We didn’t have any television in our house then, so I was an avid reader, and I remember just devouring them basically, one after the other,” he shared.

The actor credited screenwriter Clive Exton with elevating Hastings beyond his portrayal in Christie’s books. “Clive’s development and take on the characters was wonderful and we benefited from that in terms of being able to play more rounded characters,” Fraser noted, adding that the scripts transformed Hastings into “this well-meaning but not the sharpest tool in the box sort of character, English gent.”

While Fraser’s time on the show eventually wound down, David Suchet completed all 70 episodes as Poirot from 1989 to 2013. The Daily Express reports that Suchet, now 78, recently made an emotional confession about his famous role, admitting he “cannot watch anyone else play the part.”

“They have remade Poirot with other actors, and so they must – just as they must keep staging Shakespeare’s plays with different actors. I’ve taken over hundreds of roles that have been played by other people,” Suchet told the publication. “I haven’t watched any of the more recent Poirots. I don’t want to because people will always ask me about them, hoping I will criticise them. But that’s not my nature.”

Several actors have donned the detective’s signature mustache over the years, including Peter Ustinov, Kenneth Branagh, Alfred Molina, and Albert Finney. Interestingly, Suchet himself once appeared alongside Ustinov’s Poirot, playing Inspector Japp before later taking on the lead role.

The experience of filming offered Fraser numerous highlights, with the actor particularly enjoying the action sequences. “I loved the car chases in the Lagonda. In fact at one stage I drove a Formula One car in a chase sequence. It was great fun,” he reminisced to Blog About the Box. The actor also treasured filming at spectacular locations, citing Burgh Island (used for “Evil Under the Sun”) as a particular favorite.

In the years since Poirot, Fraser has established himself as a crime writer, though he clarified that his novels bear little resemblance to Christie’s refined world, focusing instead on a female contract killer from post-war London slums.