One of the sons of John Darwin, who faked his death in a canoe accident, was beaten on the set of a new ITV show over the fraud.
When the filming of ITV’s The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe began, actors Eddie Marsan and Monica Dolan were told about a visit by one of Darwin’s boys. It was reported that the boy in disguise was on set with a baseball cap and a Covid mask on, reports The Mirror.
The new four-part drama tells the story of Darwin, who faked his death in a canoe accident in 2002 and planned a new life in Panama with his wife Anne. Ex-Mirror journalist David Leigh, was the first to prosecute Anne in Panama after the £ 1 million pension and insurance fraud.
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Eddie, who plays John Darwin in the new series, said they had “no idea” about the boy’s visit, saying, “We had no idea until a few weeks later. He’s wearing a baseball cap and a covid. “Mask in. Look. We did not receive any feedback.”
Darwins, of Seaton Carew, had posed unknowingly for a photo that Spiegel published in 2007 for the plot under the headline Canoe’s This In Panama? David consulted about the series to make sure it was authentic.
(Image: ITV)
Spectators will also see son Mark Darwin, played by Mark Stanley, with his father with a copy of the mirror. Mark and his brother Anthony were held in the dark over the fraud.
Eddie and Monica also told how they kept their Northeast accents for weeks at the ITV drama film.
East Londoner Eddie, 53, said: “We kept our accents and we just stayed that way, so we sounded like family. You do not want to think about it while making a scene, because there are so many other things to do. think. about. “
Monica added: “You came out of your cabin and said ‘I’ll talk like that’ and I said ‘I’m talking like that already.’
Eddie was so fond of emulating John that he even invented his favorite music and listened to a playlist in his caravan every day to get into character.
He said: “We asked Anne Darwin what kind of music John liked and surprisingly it came back to ‘ABBA and Country and Western’. The funny thing is that I and my wife share Spotify. My wife thought I was going through a midlife crisis because there were Dolly Parton and ABBA the whole time.
John, 71, was sentenced to six months in prison for fraud and Anne, 69, was sentenced to three months longer. He was released in January 2011 and now lives in the Philippines, while Anne was released in March 2011 and lives in York.
The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe will be on ITV next month and available to stream as a boxset on ITV Hub.
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