A writer from The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe has clapped back after viewers blasted a "brutal" issue.
ITV's gripping new drama based on the true story of John and Anne Darwin premiered last night. The show explores how Anne, played by Monica Dolan, became complicit in her husband’s deception as she started to convince the world, their family and friends, the police and insurance companies, that John had gone missing in 2002 whilst canoeing off the coast of Seaton Carew in Cleveland.
In the first episode, viewers were introduced to the couple's financial issues and showed how John decided to fake his own death to claim £250,000 in life insurance. They successfully pulled it off and John went into hiding while Anne consoled her sons.
