The Thief, His Wife And The Canoe | Interview with David Nath (Executive Producer)

Why did you think this would make such a good drama?

While the basic story of what John and Anne Darwin did received a lot of media attention, the more layered story of why and how it happened hasn’t been told. Of course, you have to tell the “what?”, but the question we really ask is “why?” Why did this couple feel they could lie to their own children for five years? And how did John Darwin convince Anne to go along with it?

What was your way-in to this drama?

I became very interested in Anne’s place in the story. I began to dig deeper and read her book. At the trial, the judge said John Darwin was the driving force but that Anne Darwin was instrumental in the plot. She advanced a defence of marital coercion. So was she coerced or was she complicit? We wanted to see the story from her point of view. So, the drama becomes a journey of discovery about the degree to which she is coerced or complicit.

So what do you think Anne’s motivation was?

A lot of the drama would lead you to think that she didn’t do this of her own free will. It also explores in a profound way at what point in that marriage Anne lost her sense of self. Maybe it was 35 years ago when she first met John. At the same time, you can’t escape the fact that she committed the most awful betrayal of her own sons. It will be very interesting to see where the audience sits in terms of forgiveness for Anne. Some people will understand that there was a degree of coercion, but others might think that, regardless of that, what she did was too unforgivable.

Can you expand on the nature of her relationship with John?

With John it seems, Anne didn’t have a voice, and hadn’t had one for many, many years. She didn’t feel able to go against his wishes. That is the key to this story. The decision making in that marriage had been completely one-sided for ages. She knew what they were doing was patently wrong, but didn’t feel able to take John on. She didn’t have the tools to do that. Years and years of being denied a voice in her marriage had made Anne unable to argue against him or stop him. Added to that, John was a very domineering person.

Talk us through Anne’s relationship with her sons.

This is a story about what made Anne go along with this plan. It also explores how you recover from it. The profound and terrible nature of her betrayal of her children was very hard to repair, and yet incredibly her sons have rebuilt their relationship with their mother. It’s an extraordinary act of forgiveness.

Why did you think Chris was the right man to write this drama?

I’ve always been a huge fan of his. He’s a great storyteller. He really wants to get to the heart of us as people –why we do the things we do. But he has never written a drama based on a true story before and he was very intrigued and curious about that challenge. I immediately noticed a terrific meeting of minds between Chris and I. Also, he doesn’t often have the opportunity to write humour, which he is really good at. As well as the extraordinary nature of this story, it contains a lot of humour and pathos. So Chris was the perfect choice to write it.

What does Eddie bring to the role of John?

I’ve been lucky enough to work with Eddie before, and he’s a tremendous actor. I’ve admired him for 20 years. He has enormous range. Whereas Anne is inhibited, anxious and lacking confidence, John is ebullient and self-confident. He wants the world to perceive him as a success and will do anything to try and achieve that. Eddie achieves that brilliantly. He is an absolutely expert practitioner of his art. He is amongst our greatest actors.

Why is Monica so well cast as Anne?

Monica gives an extraordinary performance – she’s absolutely stand-out in this drama. She was outstanding as Rosemary West in Appropriate Adult, and since then I’ve always thought I would love to work with Monica. You know with her that you’re going to get something very meticulous, professional and precise. At the very first reading the script, she went into granular detail about the character. Her reading of Anne’s nuances was immediately spot on. Anne is a challenging role to play. She had to lie to the outside world and her own sons on a daily basis for five years but was also having to manage incredible self guilt.

What conclusions will audiences draw at the end of The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe?

I’m really interested to get a sense of how people react to what Anne did and whether they can understand her betrayal of her children, or not. The law around coercion has changed hugely since Anne was convicted 14 years ago and she may well have been acquitted if she was tried today.