For 50 years, David Suchet has been a staple of stage and screen, not least in his role as Agatha Christie’s most celebrated detective, Hercule Poirot. Now, he looks back on his half-century as a professional actor, and invites fans to take a glimpse at the man behind the characters…

When David Suchet – Royal Shakespeare Company alumnus and classically trained stage actor – was approached for the role of Agatha Christie’s pedantic detective, his first call for advice was to his author and newsreader brother, John.

‘He famously said to me,’ laughs the younger Suchet, in a voice honey-steeped in the finest elocutionary traditions of the stage, ‘“You’ve been asked to play Poirot?” And I said, “Yes, what do you think?”, and he said “Don’t touch it with a barge-pole...”’

Had Suchet gone on to heed his brother’s advice, it’s nearly impossible to speculate on how his acting career might have panned out, such is the impact that the role of Poirot has had on him over the 25 years since...

Why men’s mental health is an issue for all men and whole communities.

‘Man up. Shape up. Step up. Keep up.’ That’s the message to men.
But what happens when, well… we just can’t?
Anxiety, depression and despair amongst men are at an all-time high. The latest UK statistics are frightening:
    
At any one time, it’s believed that one in eight men (that 12.5 per cent of us) are trying to cope with diagnosed mental health issues – and that’s just the disclosed cases. Many more are invisible.

78 per cent of suicides (almost four in every five) are by men.

For men under the age of 45 suicide is the biggest single cause of death. In other words, the thing that is most likely to kill a young man is himself!

In the last five years the suicide rate in males aged 45-59 has also increased significantly.
 
Thirteen men take their own lives every day.

We also know that 25 per cent of those men have visited their GP during the previous seven days. It was jus...

John Sutherland joined the Met in 1992, and rose quickly, through the ranks, to become a senior police officer. But in 2013, he suffered a major mental breakdown, and his career was effectively over. Since then, he has written a book on his experiences, Blue: Keeping the peace and falling to pieces, which became a Sunday Times bestseller and was reviewed in the last issue of Sorted. His second book, Crossing The Line will be out in May 2020.

Why did you decide to become a policeman?

I was about 16 when I decided that I wanted to become a police officer. Looking back now, I suppose that I was looking for adventure – wanting to be part of something that matters. If you were to ask most police officers why they joined, they would tell you, simply, they wanted to make a difference. That sounds about right to me.

You were a successful police officer. What made you successful, and why do others struggle?

It would be for others to say whether I was successful, but I certainly love...

French-born Fred Sirieix is a familiar face on our screens, particularly for his appearances on Channel 4’s First Dates, as well as appearing with Gino D’Acampo and Gordon Ramsay. Currently working as the general manager of Michelin-starred restaurant Galvin at Windows at the London Hilton, he is the founder of National Waiters Day. But he is becoming best known for his views on romance… so this is all you need to know for Valentine’s Day!

Cynics say Valentine’s Day is just a money spinner. I think it’s fun to embrace it – what do you think?

I think you should embrace it. It’s a day in your calendar when you can be romantic, and do something special, and make somebody else feel that you think about them. As much as it’s commercial, what isn’t? Trade is the way we make the world go round, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I think it’s a great opportunity to show someone they mean something to you.

Some people have their suspicions that restaurants double their prices on Vale...

Levison Wood is a former paratrooper, a major in the army reserves, and a presenter, writer and traveller. He has made various expeditions, but the latest is the longest and the most epic: 5,000 miles around the Arab Peninsula, travelling through thirteen countries, between September 2017 and February 2018. He undertook the journey partly to discover what, if anything, were the long-term results of the 2011 Arab Spring, but also to explore one of the world’s most beautiful regions, which is always in the news – and always for the wrong reasons.
 
What is special about the Middle East, to you?
 
As discussed, we (the public) only ever see what the media show us about the Middle East: the negative things. But I knew, before I went, that there’s more to this region. Arabia is also host to some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world – in Oman, Jordan, and Lebanon, and there’s more to the conflicts than we hear on the news. Not many people get the opportunity to travel ...

Judged on prize money alone, the summer of 2019 saw Novak Djokovic become the most decorated tennis star ever to have ever played the sport. And yet, as he explains, what enriches him in life is not material wealth, for there are much greater rewards on offer.

In truth, it should follow… that someone of the strength, clarity and optimism of Novak Djokovic should ascend to the very top level of sporting brilliance. They are, after all, characteristics that make good people great. But when you add in the fact his climb almost certainly utilised the stepping stones of faith, there is a deeper, more animated version of this incredible icon that deserves greater exploration.

Even the small details matter to Djokovic. Consider perhaps just the fact that at the end of each day, as he prepares to rest for the night, those quiet moments of reflection are in many ways very similar to key moments on the court… those split seconds when the 31-year-old will clear a space in his mind in advanc...