The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe launches on ITV on Sunday night, with the scandal of 'canoe man' John Drawin thrust back into the public arena in a new primetime drama.
It's been 20 years since the story of the man who went 'missing' after paddling out to sea close to his home in Seaton Carew hit the headlines. The alarm was raised after John failed to return turn up for work at Holme House, Prison, Stockton but, rather than being missing presumed dead, John was very much still alive and being hidden right under the noses of the couple's own sons, with Anne fully in on the wicked fraud scheme, conjured up about the Darwins found themselves in substantial debt.
A wide spread search went on for some time, before being called off with John presumed dead. Six months after his 'disappearance,' Anne said: "All I want is to bury his body. It would enable me to move on. It’s difficult to grieve without bringing things to a close but as it is, I’m in limbo.”
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The couple's shocking scam was exposed by a picture of them at a property office in Panama, where John moved to before Anne joined him. The photo surfaced after John walked into a London police station in 2007 and told officers he was a missing person. In 2008, John Darwin was jailed for six years and three months after admitting eight deception charges, wife Anne was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in jail for fraud and money-laundering.
The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe will debut on ITV on Easter Sunday, April 17. There are a number of well known faces in the cast.
The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe cast on ITV
John Darwin - Eddie Marsan
Anne Darwin - Monica Dolan
Mark Darwin - Mark Stanley
Anthony Darwin - Dominic Applewhite
DC Phil Bayley - Karl Pilkington
DS Paul Sampson - Andrew Lancel
Dave Leigh - David Fynn
Flick - Francesca Knight
