The creator of a new TV show about convicted criminal couple John and Anne Darwin says the public need to be more forgiving of coerced wife Anne's crimes.
New ITV drama The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe tells the story of 71-year-old John and his wife Anne – with the pair played by Eddie Marsan and Monica Dolan respectively.
The Darwin’s shocked the UK in 2007 when they were arrested for fraud after John faked his death and Anne helped cover up the truth.
John had originally gone ‘missing’ in 2002 while canoeing in the North Sea and was assumed dead – only for him and Anne to take his life insurance money to start a new life in Panama.
But their web of lies fell apart in 2007 when John miraculously ‘came back from the dead’ and claimed he was suffering from amnesia.
The pair – who had lied to their own sons, Anthony and Mark – were no longer fooling anyone, however, and were arrested in December that year, put on trial in 2008 and jailed for six years each.
Show writer Chris Lang, however, says that that viewers should forgive Anne for her involvement in the crimes with the show telling the story from her perspective.
Chris told the Daily Mail: “Good people do bad things. Let's try and understand, let's try and forgive because if her sons could forgive her, I would hope that we can as well.”
However, he stopped short of exonerating the couple as he admitted he did not want to consult John and Anne while writing his script.
Chris said: “How much (do) any of us understand why we behave the way we behave? It's complicated.”
Show star Eddie also thinks opinions could be changed by the drama, telling the publication: “There's a generational interpretation of the story. The older female members of the crew felt that she should have taken more responsibility and the younger ones felt that she was a victim.”
Eddie and Monica already gave an interview to the Mirror where they opened up about their involvement in the show – and delighted in the fact that they were able to use their natural accents for the drama.
Eddie said: “We kept our accents and we just stayed like that so we sounded like a family.”
He continued: “You don't want to think about it whilst you are doing a scene because there are so many other things to think about.”
While Monica added: “You came out of your cabin and said ‘I’m gonna speak like that’ and I said ‘I’m talking like that already’.”
The actors also said one of the Darwins’ two sons was on set in disguise for the day.
Eddie said: “We had no idea until a few weeks later. He had come in with a baseball cap and a Covid mask on to watch. We didn’t get any feedback.”
The four-parter is based on a story by ex-Mirror journalist David Leigh, who was first to trace Anne in Panama after the £1million pension and insurance scam.
The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe will be on ITV next month and available to stream as a box set on ITV Hub.
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