Here’s all you need to know ITV’s new drama telling the story of ‘canoe man’ John Darwin.
Four-parter The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe is written by acclaimed screenwriter Chris Lang and directed by BAFTA winner Richard Laxton, (Honour, Mrs Wilson, Mum).
BIFA nominee Eddie Marsan (Ray Donovan, Sherlock Holmes, Happy Go Lucky) plays John Darwin who faked his own death to claim life insurance and avoid bankruptcy while BAFTA-winner Monica Dolan (Appropriate Adult, W1A, A Very English Scandal) plays his wife Anne.
Watch The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe on TV and online
The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe started on Sunday, 17 April at 9PM on ITV.
Episodes of the four-part series will continue on TV nightly this week on Monday 18, Tuesday 19 and Wednesday 20 April at 9PM.
Alternatively, you can watch the full show online now and catch up via the ITV Hub here.
A synopsis of the series shares: “The drama will focus on how Anne Darwin became complicit in her husband’s deception as she started to convince the world, their family and friends, the police and insurance companies, that he had gone missing in 2002 whilst canoeing off the coast of Seaton Carew in Cleveland, where the couple owned two large houses with panoramic views of the sea.
“The deception was to take its toll on Anne who lied to their sons, Mark and Anthony, for five years whilst her husband, in the early days of the fraud, secretly lived in a bedsit next door to the home he shared with Anne.
“Devastated by the loss of their father, neither son had an inkling their parents were capable of such treachery.
“Anne and John Darwin eventually decided to leave Seaton Carew and move to Panama City to start a new life together before their secret was exposed by the discovery of an infamous photo of them posing in a Panama real estate office in July 2006.”
Monica Dolan and Eddie Marsan will be joined on the cast by Mark Stanley (White House Farm) and Karl Pilkington (Sick of It, Derek).
Writer Chris Lang said: “I am beyond delighted to be working with two of the finest actors of their generation.
“I have admired them both from afar for many years (not in a creepy way though) and cannot wait to see them bring Anne and John Darwin to life.”
The show is based upon the unpublished manuscript written by journalist David Leigh who was the first journalist to track down Anne as she was on the verge of setting up a new life in Panama.
More on: ITV
