Anyone watching The Thief, The Wife & The Canoe?

I can well believe she was coerced.
I married a controlling man and if I weren't a stronger person he'd have me jumping through all kinds of hoops at his bidding, though not necessarily illegal ones.
I remember the story well and was fascinated from the start by how badly it'd been thought out, and how pathetic the insurance company and the police were. But just how dreadful for that poor woman to spend all those years in such a state of tension as well as seeing her sons grieving like that must have broken her. She was weak and desperate, but I do feel for her.

This story is so ridiculous that if it wasn’t true, I wouldn’t have gone further than the first half hour.

Enjoying it, but I think she is just as bad as him, worse in a way. I couldn’t have him do that to my children and parents. They had 12 rental homes just selling one would have cleared debts of £56k. How could the family,the sons and wives forgive their mother? She comes over as controlled and submissive but I don’t find that believable, considering they bought so many houses for investment, they were not stupid and very money motivated, enough was never enough, yet they never thought anything through, it doesn’t add up.

I googled what happened after their prison sentence They only got 6 years plus a few months and were out in 3 they divorced in prison and he has remarried a phillipeano woman and lives there living off his U.K. pensions ?grr and says he is going to Ukraine to fight ( he’s 71!,)

She is back in the family bosom of her sons!!!

Apparently he was a teacher for 15 years,,, goodness help the children he taught

Truth is stranger than fiction, Grammy

Grammy666

I gave up on it as I found it boring and the main characters were so unbelievable ..

Yes, unbelievable, but it really happened. It's not fiction.

At the time this story first broke a friend of mine confessed she was John’s cousin. She said their grandmother used to call him a stupid boy.
While I watch the programme that phrase keeps ringing round my head.

Sorry fat fingers. I know it is ITV hub.

It's 'ITV hub' BBbevan, not just IT hub.

BBbevan

I can’t seem to access this on ‘it hub’. Anyone know why this should be ?

Just had a look, it’s on there, all the episodes showing.

I gave up on it as I found it boring and the main characters were so unbelievable ..

Oh dear, not typos but stylos!

by and seven

Why on earth the Police didn't follow up properly the story Anne gave them when an ex-collegue of John's saw him on the street and reported it. She said it was a cousin of John's who looked very like him. Also John became very brazen and did painting and maintenance work on the outside of his house

The wife was very persuasive in getting a verdict of death y misadventure before the legal seen years were up.

I can’t seem to access this on ‘it hub’. Anyone know why this should be ?

I read Anne Darwin's book so wanted the watch the TV drama.

Why on earth the Police didn't follow up properly the story Anne gave them when an ex-collegue of John's saw him on the street and reported it. She said it was a cousin of John's who looked very like him. Also John became very brazen and did painting and maintenance work on the outside of his house.

You couldn't make it up and the book was certainly an interesting read and if I remember correctly she didn't take any profit from it. Felt sorry for her in some ways but No means No and she should have stuck to it.

NannyJan53

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.

Just a little bit more detective work would have discovered that they owned the house next door too and that there were no tenants, yet a man was seen coming and going from there.
Not to mention connecting doors - they did a house search!

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

Her poor FIL, sitting at the dinner table, sobbing.
Only someone hard as nails and/or totally in thrall to her husband could keep up that pretence.

We're watching it and can remember the case.

I can't understand why this spin has been put on it to make it seem as if the wife was coerced into the actions she took.
It's impossible to imagine how a woman could put her sons through that and go off beaming to Panama to join her rotten husband in a sunlit paradise.
It was calculated and callous.
She's very lucky that her sons have forgiven her.

She did get a longer sentence than him for whatever reason but it seemed unfair to put her in a prison with murderers.

He was a Walter Mitty character yes, a fantasist, but he believed his own lies and convinced himself (and her).

Did the insurance companies get their money back?

Both main actors are excellent, particularly Monica Dolan.

I don’t feel sorry for the wife that was just about as cruel as you can get and she was very happy to go overseas and expect to live the life of Riley with creepy Joe
Putting her sons, and his family I believe his father was alive through that was as cruel as you can get how did she live with herself
He was a Walter Mitty character who could lie for England but she was just unbelievably cruel

Thanks Sparklefizz that explains it then .

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

Jane43 Thank you

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

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

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.