Anyone watching The Thief, The Wife & The Canoe?

According to the article about the drama in the Radio Times , John and Anne Darwin didn't cooperate with the series.

No. I was annoyed enough when it was in the news. Don’t want to revisit the story.

They were some pair. I don't think she was the mealy mouthed wee innocent that was portrayed, she was obviously capable of lying through her teeth. Not only to the authorities but to her own sons. My understanding was the sons never forgave them and I don't blame them. How could you put your children through that?Mr Darwin was obviously deluded and thought he was God's gift. A weird, unlikeable pair, no sympathy for either of them. The drama is excellent and much as I like Eddie Marsan, Monica Dolan has stole the show.

No. I haven’t been watching it nor the BBC running of the same story. I read newspaper reports at the time and felt sorry for their sons and other family members. It’s not a story I feel any interest in.

It amazes me how that silly couple thought they could get away with it all. She could of said no to his stupid scheme, but she didn't and then they put their kids through hell. Horrible couple.

I m afraid having been through a very controlling relationship and worked with umpteen women who have been bashed both mentally and physically I don’t know one who would have been so cruel to their children as she was So I m sorry I don’t buy the poor little woman she was every bit as bad as he was and this is said by someone who has in the past been battered and bruise with not an ounce of self confidence however I would have walked barefoot over hot coals to protect my children and I would never have been so cruel

The two sons seemed to think the world of him so was he that awful to her surely as grown men they would have known if she was that badly treated She was obviously not kept from the wider family ( as a lot of controlled women are) as we saw them round the table

HannahLoisLuke

No. I was annoyed enough when it was in the news. Don’t want to revisit the story.

I wasn't annoyed but I was that they got away with it for so long!

Can't be bothered to watch it.

Grantanow

Can't be bothered to watch it.

This thread is about the programme ???

I think I felt more sorry for his dad than for the sons.

Can't help thinking that the actress who plays Anne Darwin has had dialect coaching from comedian Sarah Millican! Close your eyes next time she speaks and you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between them!

Monica Dolan is from Middlebrough, not far from Seaton Carew so probably didn't need voice coaching

Well said ‘Sparklfizz’…. I’ve watched the first two episodes and cannot believe police didn’t know the couples financial circumstances. Also peeeed off with the wife behaving so innocently….she could’ve stop the ball rolling in the first few days! She chose not to.

She played the part very well and her accent hardly faltered.
Unless you've been the victim of a controlling partner you cannot begin to understand how she could have been bullied into doing what she did.
I don't think she was very intelligent - I think she was unusably naïve, if she'd used her brain she'd have dobbed him but she was too afraid of breaking up her marriage and her own heart with it.
So in the end she did both.

She played the part very well and her accent hardly faltered.

Perhaps because it is her own accent!

I said to my husband while we were watching 'I'm sure that's Freddie 'Parrot Face' Davies playing his dad and indeed it is.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

Well, I feel very sorry for the poor woman.

She was bullied by a very manipulative man.
Unfortunately, she felt under his control. You can see and hear the pain in her voice.
It wasn’t her idea and she just got swept along with it. She clearly didn’t relish what they were doing.
She is the innocent one in all this although she was also complicit.

You can see and hear the pain in her voice

You see and hear an actor and a script.

What I found revealing is how little joy they gained from the fraud: years locked away from any good times they might have had together, and just a few weeks in the sun before jail. Heavens, they could have filed for bankruptcy, started again, and, a while later, recovered, and booked a couple of weeks in Spain!

Yes, it was a hair brained scheme which caused extreme distress to many people when they could have easily taken another route out of debt.

They owned about 12 rental properties and their own home looked rather dingy according to the programme - how come they racked up that debt, shouldn't the rents have been steadily paying off any mortgages?

Spot on Grammygrammy

I remember it at the time as I live quite near to saltburn . Can’t believe he lived next door and nobody saw him ! So cruel on their sons to think their dads dead

I agree with 'OODLES' .....unfortunately in history of Insurance claims, I do wonder exactly HOW many people have actually got away with these false claims !!!! and then we wonder why our premiums go up ! (the only claim I ever had to make was for a flood caused by the water tank in the loft being wrongly connected to the supply (it was a brand new house ......think the Ins co got the money back from the builders) BUT although they paid the claim (we claimed just for the ceiling and light fitting damage ) they sent round an assessor, who said we should also claim for the bathroom carpets, cleaning the lounge carpet and the chairs in the lounge .........so he recommended a much bigger claim than we asked them to pay out !!) .....but how on earth did not assessors look further into this couple, their financial situation et al .....and how come the threat of repossession and bankruptcy they said they were under, was never investigated !!!!! beyond belief....HOW on earth can her sons have 'forgiven' her ..............she doesn't deserve to have contact with them or her grandchilden for what she put them through (yes, HER .....since she went along with it and was ever happy and smiling in her new flat, with her dead husband !

In real life, she was bullied and manipulated.
I have been reading about their life and what she put up with.
Obviously what she did was wrong, but unless you have experienced living with a bullying, controlling b.....d, then we shouldn’t be too hasty to judge.
The man was an inexcusable moron .