Stream of the Day
The Thief, His Wife, and the Canoe
Britbox’s new series streams the story of a man who would go to unbelievable lengths to escape his reality
On April 17, ITV premiered the drama series The Thief, His Wife, and the Canoe. The programme, which was created by Chris Lang and produced by Richard Laxton, dramatises the case of the missing John Darwin, a prison guard and teacher who faked his own death and then reappeared five and a half years after it was thought he had perished in a canoe accident. The pair gained notoriety in 2002 after former teacher John staged a boat accident outside their Hartlepool house. In actuality, John was planning a new life for him and Anne in Panama while living shamelessly next door for years and keeping their kids Mark and Anthony in the dark about his plans. They even managed to persuade their sons that the tragedy was confirmed in the hopes that hundreds of thousands of pounds in insurance would pay off their debt; nevertheless, it wasn’t until 2007 that John’s return to the UK revealed the reality.
