The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe
Anyone else watching this drama staring Eddie Marsan and Monica Dolan as canoe man John Darwin and his beleaguered wife? I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it but as it has gone on I am quite enjoying it. Difficult to know how true to life it is but as a drama it seems to work. I am not sure whether to feel sorry for his wife, she was clearly manipulated but surely had many opportunities stop the ongoing fraud? Final episode tonight and a documentary the following night.
David
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Absolutely brilliant acting. Marsan manages to get you to really dislike his character.
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The place where they lived is Seaton Carew, which is about three miles from Hartlepool, from working there I have kept friends with people living there and it was/is known locally as Seaton Canoe.
Also there was a famous (well to that area) large really well done town sign that went up after the story broke that said
Seaton Canoe - twinned with Panama.
It's on google should you wish to see it.
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I started watching it because there wasn’t much alternative on its first night but I’m glad I did as I’ve found it riveting. I don’t know how factually accurate it is as I only vaguely recall them being arrested but it sure is entertaining👍🏻
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This is actually true, Hartlepool people have a completely different accent.
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So did I, especially being married to a real Geordie, at least geographically, for over 50 years
Although Margaret's accent is hardly discernable as Geordie, never really has been but is really only noticeable in the phrasing of some words. I think it is a nuance only people in the North East would pick up on. I find it amazing that actors can really get into different accents and maintain them. David
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I too enjoyed this four parter and will watch the real story tonight. His character really got under your skin. Easy to say when it's not you but I found it difficult to comprehend why his wife didn't just tell him to sod off with his ideas but, as she said, she didn't know any other way of life and I had a mother of the same ilk.
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DK wrote "So did I, especially being married to a real Geordie, "
I once heard it defined that a Geordie was one born within spitting distance of the Tyne and a "real Geordie" was one who lived on the banks of the Wear and could still spit in the Tyne.
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My wife is too much of a lady to spit at anything
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Accents can change between adjacent villages in my experience. Lincolnshire is a huge county, second to Yorkshire but listen to the voices of those from The Deepings, those of Barton upon Humber, those of Claypole, those of Louth and those of Epworth and you could conclude they were all from different counties. I find it fascinating but the nuances spoken of and listened to in this drama does not detract from its brilliance.
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Did anyone watch the follow up documentary last night, with the known facts? Just wondered if it changed your view of either party?
David
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I watched it and am still of the same opinion that John Darwin was a bit of a tosspot with his attitude and also that Anne Darwin was just a weak person who didn't have the ability to stand up to her husband. A stronger women would have chucked him out long before his silly notion of faking his own death. I find the idea of making money from book sales distasteful whoever or whatever the crime.
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It didn't change my mind about him. Jill's word 'tosspot' sums him up. Stupidity and arrogance combined to make a story you couldn't write.
I did come away from the documentary with mixed feelings about her and wondered whether she was quite as weak as the drama portrayed or whether she was more complicit in the planning than she'd like us to believe.
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OK we only saw snippets of it but the interview on This Morning Anne Darwin came across as quite a confident women and I imagine being a doctors receptionist is not a role for the faint hearted? I am not suggesting that she helped formulate the plan but it does seem she to have gone along with the idea for some years? I wonder who persuaded her to go for the coercive control defense? It would seem that she would have been better to have pleaded guilty and used coercive control as the reason why she went along with it as its probable that a jury and judge would have been more sympathetic meaning a shorter sentence? I didn't realise she had written a book!
David
Edit:- I have just looked up the book, Out of my Depth, which was published in 2016, according to a note on Amazon Anne Darwin has not received any fees from the publication of the book.
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Edit:- I have just looked up the book, Out of my Depth, which was published in 2016, according to a note on Amazon Anne Darwin has not received any fees from the publication of the book.
Glad to hear that as, to me, it would be profiting from crime. Do we know where any book sales money has gone? Presumably David Leigh has made money out of it.
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The BBC are showing ‘Canoe Man’ on iPlayer at the moment. Interesting to compare both dramas about the same event.
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Not for sure Jill although one of the reviews on Amazon mentions RNLI being a beneficiary, which when I read it I thought it was quite ironic! I can't confirm that is true either. I think David Leigh is the journalist that tracked her down in Panama? No doubt as a professional there would have been fees/royalties? The book is available to read on a Kindle download and I think Margaret is going to download it as its not expensive.
David
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I read a few pages of the book via "look inside" on Amazon but it wasn't much of a read, very basic stuff. I also had a look at an old youtube clip, from itv, showing "AD" talking about the events. The more questions she was asked the less credible the answers became and I thought it was quite bizarre.
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Margaret is currently working her way through the book and no doubt I will report back when she has finished. Just one thing to confirm. Anne Darwin received no fees or royalties from the book according to what Margaret has read in the book. What would have been her fees were divided between the RNLI and the RSPCA.
David
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Now we have the ability for catch up TV I thought I'd watch this having read the thread.
Sadly I haven't yet, couldn't find it on iplayer but did find and watch canoe man.. it refreshed my memory and I was surprised how long ago it was!
Has anyone else found it on iplayer?
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B2, it's not iPlayer but on ITV Hub.
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Margaret has finished the book, she said it was an easy read. She got the impression that Anne Darwin was just frightened of being on her own and she was clearly scared that her husband would leave. She regretted what had happened especially the impact on her family. One fascinating element of the book was the detail of being in prison. Whilst she didn't like, obviously, being in prison she didn't appear to have too tough a time, although she did have some infamous fellow prisoners!!!.The person she seemed most grateful to was the journalist who found her in Panama, perhaps it offered her a way out?
David
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Glad I'm not the only one who searches the wrong channel for catch up.
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