ITV viewers tuned in across the country on Sunday evening to watch the first instalment of The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe - which tells the real life story of a North East couple who committed major fraud in the early 2000s.
The gripping new drama which premiered at 9pm depicts the tale of John and Anne Darwin which shocked the nation, following a five year 'disappearance' of John.
John faked his own death in 2002 after heading off into the North Sea in a canoe so his wife could claim £250,000 in life insurance, after the couple found themselves heavily in debt - The Manchester Evening News reports. For years, John lived in a secret bedsit which adjoined the couple's home in Seaton Carew, visiting his wife through a door that connected the two properties.
