Anyone watching The Thief, The Wife & The Canoe?

The more I watch it the more unbelievable it seems. I felt sorry for the wife as it appears she was coerced into it, but to allow your sons to believe their father was dead is just cruel. Agree you would have thought the police would have investigated the finances. He was so brazen as well going out and about with not much of a disguise.

I have only watched the first episode, but that was my first thought. A police officer did ask if there was any reason i.e an argument, or financial difficulties. The wife said no, and it seems they didn't investigate his finances. Odd to say the least.

Yes I am watching it, the man is deluded. His poor wife had no backbone. To lie to their sons, his dad, her parents !

I read the other day that they are now divorced and he is married to someone from the Philippines and when asked his whereabouts, she said he was in ukraine fighting ( the man is 71 ) and it is ok because he has a life insurance policy !!!!!

Hmmmmm !

The wife used coercive control as her defence at her trial, but the jury did not agree. I think she is presented rather too sympathetically., and the husband is not such a loveable rogue as he appears, according to a long interview I read that he gave attempting to explain his reasoning.

......while in prison John set the divorce proceedings going on the grounds of unreadable behaviour !!!!!!

The poor sons. What a betrayal!

I think the Ukraine story was a lie Serendipity as he was seen in the Philippines, seems he can't help himself.
I think the coercive control element was true to an extent. I read that Anne was intelligent and very good at her job as an administrator, this didn't seem to come across in the series. I am at a loss to understand why her sentence was three months longer than that of her husband.

I found nothing loveable about either of them. The grief they inflicted on their family was beyond cruel.

It's so ridiculous it's hard to believe it's true. I laughed when she was told she'd have to wait 7 years before the insurance company said they'd pay out.

Maybe that was because she lied under oath to the Coroner's court sodapop. Apparently the son's forgave her in the end. A terrible thing to do to them, his father and her parents.

the police didn’t check
Heavens to Murgatroyde ? I think that concept went out the window many moons ago.
Remember Carl Beech? If Mr Plod had bothered to look at his computer they might ( sarcastic emoji) have seen that he was the peodophile and not the MPs and military figures who’s lives he destroyed through his accusations.

I'm watching it, and wondering if they fully agreed with the script.

I was unaware of this programme. What chanel is it on please?

I watched last night's episode - found them both very creepy. He does seem to have been able to live quite an active life under the radar thanks to growing a beard.

It seems both the BBC and ITV had a drama on Canoe Man at the same time! I've watched one of them but not the series. His sentence should have been twice as long, very unfair.

Aldom

I was unaware of this programme. What chanel is it on please?

The current one is on ITV so I would imagine it is on the ITV hub. There was another version made by the BBC which was shown on BBC4 the other evening, I would imagine that is on the BBC iPlayer.

It’s such an entertaining drama I have to keep reminding myself it actually happened.

A TV scriptwriter would have had sniffer dogs discovering the door at the back of the cupboard. ?

It’s such an entertaining drama I have to keep reminding myself it actually happened.

I know! It's so far-fetched. How she could keep lying, not once but for years, to her 2 lovely sons and the rest of her family, I will never know. She was as complicit as her husband.

As she seemed a very quiet unassuming person, her word seems to have been believed by both the police and the coroner.

Apparently she wrote a book afterwards.

Sparklefizz

I have been binge watching this (not quite finished it yet) and it seems incredible that the police didn't check "Canoe Man's" finances and spot a reason for him to fake his disappearance.

That’s what I have been saying again and again. It seems mad that his financial state wasn’t picked up with the apparent phone calls from places that he owed money to and bailiff’s on the door steps. If this was fiction I would dismiss it as a load of rubbish. As it is I am not really convinced about his wife being so against the idea. As for him being recognised by a fellow prison officer and yet he was coming and going from next door and not recognised by anyone……

Unbelievable story but true..
I remember it but not that much. The Times Magazine had the story this weekend on reading I can't believe it happened, what a pair of idiots.
They said the TV mini series is comedic, yep still can't believe it!

In many respects, this reminded me of last year's Sky-HBO drama Landscapers starring Olivia Colman and David Thewlis as Susan and Christopher Edwards. Different kind of crime but a similar dynamic between a husband and a wife deemed fragile.

Described by Lucy Mangan as "a meditation on how many versions of reality there can be within one chain of events", Chris Lang has used a lot of dramatic licence in "Canoe" turning it into a story about how Ann Darwin was coerced and why. He's changed events to suit his narrative. The sentences handed down by the court showed they found her equally culpable.

I think it's best to suspend disbelief when watching this and just enjoy the performances, Monica Dolan especially.

It`s a good watch if only because it`s a true story.
But a vile thing to put the lads through,unforgivable imo.

I can clearly remember when the full story first came to light in the news, feeling absolutely certain that film and tv drama makers would be clamouring to use it.
In a kind of horrified way I have always loved this story as it seemed so completely preposterous yet it happened and he nearly got away with it.
It had everything, including the name of the town where they lived, Seaton Carew, which some wag changed on the town sign to Seaton Canoe. It had to happen didn’t it?!

I am enjoying watching this production. I think the casting is very good, particularly the actress who plays Anne as she looks so like her.

Extraordinary though to think that a couple who owned at least a dozen rental properties could be facing debts to the tune of, I believe, £350,000

Jane43 Thank you

Someone mentioned that she received a longer sentence than her husband, and possibly this is because he pleaded guilty whereas she pleaded not guilty.