THE THIEF, HIS WIFE AND THE CANOE - ITV 9pm - EASTER SUNDAY TO WEDNESDAY. TV PACE. NO SPOILERS

[Blondeshavemorefun]

Real life story

John a former teacher and prison officer fakes his own death in 2002 via a canoe - with the help of Ann his wife to claim Life insurance and avoid bankruptcy

It is based on an unpublished manuscript by reporter David , he was the first one to find and interview ann after a boot of the couple was seen 5yrs later in 2007

Ann knew but not the sons who believes their dad was dead

You mean they forgive him?

@PickAChew

Definitely not colliery. DH is from Peterlee, mining family, and said they wouldn't say 6 months, they'd say 6 month.

The colliery was mentioned in the first 10 minutes or so. John had worked there iirc and believed he was lifting himself out of the colliery.

@Blondeshavemorefun

I don’t rem this in the news at all.

Was it well known in the news

Sure many have faked their deaths fir insurance money so what makes this man do special iyswim

I remember this. He faked his death. Wife told their sons he'd died. he lived behind a false wall in their house. But they went to Panama, I think, on holiday and a photo of them was recognised.

The lying to their sons was unforgivable.

Tbh , I think they are making them more working class seeming than they were with all the focus on his eccentricity and debts. He had been a teacher and was a grammar schol boy (think the collieries was either his dad ,or it's a fictionalisation).

He reminded me of my FIL with lots of harebrained moneypit schemes.

It's always the way : they never use local actors for things - I give you The Bay, and Broadchurch!

We stuck out the episode, but found the acting a bit poor, plus the lack of even local accents in the minor parts. I don’t think we’lo be watching the other episodes. Shame as we were looking forward to it.

The lead actress is local (ish) though!

@Meredusoleil

You mean they forgive him?

The sons forgave Anne but not sure whether they ever forgave him/still see him etc

[quote Juniper68]@CaptainMyCaptain you'd probably be pleasantly surprised now. It's lovely there.[/quote]
I'm really glad to hear that as I have fond memories. Saltburn is another place that went down hill and is lovely now.

The lead actress is local (ish) though

According to this, although born in middlesbrough, she moved to surrey shortly after. Her natural accent is Southern/RP, definitely not NE.

amp.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/sep/12/monica-dolan-interview-vanity-fair-rosemary-west

SPOILER THEY CATCH HIM

@Soupercat

SPOILER THEY CATCH HIM

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/apr/17/the-thief-his-wife-and-the-canoe-review-real-life-insurance-scam-drama

Apparently the real John Darwin is now fighting in Ukraine. His second wife says they have good life insurance - you couldn't make it up.

The sons have forgiven them, apparently. I know I couldn’t if I was one of them.

Anne is made out to be a real victim In all of this, but she totally went along with it didn’t she?
I hope this doesn’t make me a victim blamer!!! It’s made to look like it was all his idea and she was forced to go along with it but… oh I don’t know, maybe I’m being harsh. What they did to their sons was so disgustingly immoral. But she deceived them too. To their faces. How could anyone do that?

@Furrybutts

Very disappointing. Flat and boringly predictable. Won't be bothering with the other 3 episodes.

“Boringly predicatable”

Er, yes, I think that’s a fair comment since it is based on a real story and we all know how it ends……….

The irony is they must have had to pay the insurance money back and had court costs etc etc so ended up with more debt than he started with , which he could have solved by selling on his properties and the new car or going bankrupt and the properties would have been seized and sold on I assume?
I know he felt shame at the £700,000 debt ( I read this was the amount they owed reading a review of the drama online ) but doing this is much worse. He wasn't thinking straight at all and it all could have been solved eventually.

I left Glasgow many years ago and can still do a proper Glasgow accent. My DF hasn't lived in Northumberland for 50 years and can still do the accent...even though he was always RP 'naturally'. I think the man's accent is all wrong - far too Geordie- but Dolan's is pretty good.

She lied in her trial, saying her husband forced her to go through with it. She was no victim - the only victims were her sons.

@Furrybutts

Very disappointing. Flat and boringly predictable. Won't be bothering with the other 3 episodes.

I think it's predictable because it's based on a true story, and everyone knows what happened.

@Justmuddlingalong

Ads after just 10 minutes. 🙄I'm going to pause it, make a cuppa and come back to it so I can FF the ads.

@Justmuddlingalong we always press record and then start watching 20 mins later so we can fast forward through the ads!

I really enjoyed it last night. Something different for a change

@WTF475878237NC

Quite a few spoilers in this thread if people aren't familiar with the story at all.

I enjoyed the slow pace. Just what we need at the moment. Anne seemed very weak and couldn't believe she put her husband's pride above the children's feelings.

I don't think you can class something as a spoiler, given it is based on real life events that happened years ago!!

@Blondeshavemorefun hiya 🙂
Just watched the first episode and really enjoyed it. I'm
Almost 48 and I remember it happening but not the details.
He's just not likeable in any way is he 🙈

Also the music at the end was funny I couldn't help laugh at it

I enjoyed the first episode. I remember it being in the news and was fascinated.

Very disappointing. Doesn't remotely compare with the Olivia Colman drama from a few weeks ago. I like both the main actors, but not this script, slow and rather boring. Won't be watching tonight.