OHMYGOSSIP — Eddie Marsan and Monica Dolan are set to star in ‘The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe’.
The 52-year-old actor will play the role of John Darwin in the recently commissioned ITV drama which follows the infamous story of how John faked his own death to claim life insurance and avoid bankruptcy.
Monica will star as John’s wife Amy Darwin, who became complicit in her husband’s deception as she started to convince the world, their family and friends, the police and insurance companies, that he had gone missing in 2002 whilst canoeing off the coast of Seaton Carew in Cleveland, where the couple owned two large houses with panoramic views of the sea.
The couple were caught out when they decided to leave Seaton Carew and move to Panama City to start a new life together, and a photograph was discovered of them posing in a Panama real estate office in July 2006.
At her trial Anne Darwin pleaded not guilty, arguing that she had been coerced into the plot by her husband, but the jury didn’t believe her. She and her husband were both jailed for more than six years.
‘The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe’ is being written by acclaimed screenwriter Chris Lang, and is based on the unpublished manuscript written by journalist David Leigh who was the first journalist to track down Anne as she was on the verge of setting up a new life in Panama.
Speaking about his casting, Eddie said: “I’m so thrilled to be working with Chris Lang, one of our greatest writers and to get the chance to work with Monica Dolan. The story of how and why John Darwin faked his own death to defraud insurance companies is fascinating, and if it weren’t fact, you’d think it unbelievable. I can’t pretend to understand what was going on in his head when he made those choices, but I’m going to do my absolute best to portray him, and I can’t wait to get started.”
Whilst Monica added: “’The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe’ tells the story of surely the most outrageous fraud of modern times – and my favourite kind of drama is when the outrageous comes from the prosaic. As breath-taking as their managing to pull this deception off in the first place, is how spectacularly the couple wrecked it for themselves as soon as they had got away with it.”
Eddie and Monica will be joined in the cast by Mark Stanley and Karl Pilkington, whose roles have not yet been revealed.
Filming on the four-part drama commences later this month, and the show is being produced by Story Films.
Source: VacationHunter.Online
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