Suchet is the Mirror image of Maxwell - almost - Showbiz

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The actor cleverly captures the character of the former Mirror owner, who died in mysterious circumstances in 1991. But the real Maxwell was 6ft 3in and 22 stone, while Suchet is just 5ft 8in and 12st 7lb.

Suchet said: "For me, the voice is the entry point for any character and, in Maxwell's case, it comes from deep down within him.

"It's an expression of power, of self-assurance, of incredible self-confidence."

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Mirror image: Poirot star David Suchet (left) loses the moustache to play disgraced newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell (right)

The drama shows Maxwell in the final months of his life, when his business empire began to collapse, and the scandal that erupted after his death over his plundering of £440 million from the Mirror's pension fund.

Suchet told Radio Times that Maxwell liked to think he had a softer side. "He'd joke that had he been a woman, he would have been permanently pregnant because he just couldn't say no," he said.

He added that he only agreed to the role if it did not offend Maxwell's widow, Betty, who is played by Patricia Hodge.

The full interview is in Radio Times, out tomorrow.