Eddie Marsan, 52, has been cast as a fraudster who faked his own death in 2002
The Darwins, who were both jailed, faked his death to claim insurance money
He was jailed after visiting a police station in 2007 saying he d lost his memory
John, 70, had been travelling between Panama and a bedsit in County Durham
New ITV drama called The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe starts filming this month
Rose West actress set to star as Canoe Man John Darwin s wife in new ITV drama Mirror 4 hrs ago Jeremy Armstrong
Actress Monica Dolan, who won a BAFTA for portraying Rose West, is starring as another partner in crime – the wife of the “Canoe Man”.
John Darwin was reported missing by wife Anne after taking his kayak out and for five years she pretended he was dead – even to their two sons.
While John lived in a secret room beside the marital home, the “widow” claimed hundreds of thousands in insurance and pension payouts in Seaton Carew, County Durham.
Monica, born in nearby Middlesbrough, will star with Eddie Marsan in ITV’s The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe. Filming began in Seaton Carew yesterday and Monica, 52 – who was seen at a bus stop in a grey wig – said it “tells the story of surely the most outrageous fraud of modern times”.