It's the scandal that shook the country 20 years ago now and viewers will soon get a first look at the ITV drama inspired by 'canoe man' John Darwin.
Back on March 21 2002, teacher John was seen paddling out to sea in his kayak at Seaton Carew and, later the same day, he was reported as "missing" after failing to report to work.
Following a a large scale police search which found nothing, wreckage of John's kayak was found the next day with the then 51-year-old presumed dead, when really he was living in a bedsit next door to the family home in Hartlepool, before secretly moving back in with his wife Anne in February 2003.
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After John spent time abroad, the couple eventually moved from the North East to Panama in 2007. But after finding their identities would have to be verified by UK police in order for them to receive a Panamanian visa, John returned to British soil and walked into a London police station claiming to have no memory of the past five years, with Anne faking surprise and disbelief at him still being alive.
Their secret was eventually exposed by the discovery of an infamous photo of them posing in a Panama real estate office in July 2006. Two years later they were convicted of fraud, having also deceived their own sons who vowed to have nothing more to do with them.
And now the drama about them The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe has been confirmed to start on Easter Sunday, April 17. The roles of John and Anne will be taken by Eddie Marsan and Monica Dolan, with the drama spanning four episodes.
John and Anne were found to have obtained £2,000 by deception, with John sentenced to six years and three months after admitting eight deception charges. Anne who pleaded not guilty, receiving a slightly longer sentence of six years and six months on convictions of fraud and money-laundering.
The now separated couple were released from prison over a decade ago, with a re-married John reported to be living in the Philippines in 2019, with Anne believed to be living in York.
