The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe

[Slim]

I'm usually a bit sniffy about ITV dramas but since this one is set in my home town, I didn't resist. In 2002, a man named John Darwin perpetrated a life insurance fraud by faking his own death in an apparent canoeing accident off the coast of Seaton Carew, Hartlepool. This has been dramatised as The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe and the first episode was shown tonight.

It's actually very good. Eddie Marsan portrays Darwin as the wilful, irrational and obsessive man that he no doubt is. But the burden of the stress and shame and deceit that his poor wife has to bear after he disappears is the focus of the piece, nicely brought out in an understated performance by Monica Dolan. It's not overwrought or melodramatic; it comes across as a sense of an invasive, melancholy pressure.

Nonetheless there's a strand of dark humour running through the telling of the story. It's well directed and photographed and has a nice cinematic quality.

A couple of nitpicks - the characters all sound like they're from Newcastle rather than Hartlepool and that's most apparent in the pronunciation of words like "apart" for example. But most viewers won't be bothered.

Most of the "Seaton Carew" scenes, including Darwin leaving his house to enter the water with his canoe, are actually filmed at the Headland which is four miles round the other side of the bay, and looks very little like Seaton Carew. There's a nice scene of Darwin sitting at Seaton bus station though, while the police search his house.

Not fond of the ITV practice of showing drama instalments on consecutive nights, but I'll definitely catch the next one.

[Slim]

Lots of complaints from fellow Monkey Hangers being reported on the Mail Online, this morning:



They wrote on Twitter: 'The thief, his wife and a canoe, so, why is it that ITV think people from Teesside speak with a Geordie accent. This happened in Hartlepool and we DO NOT have that accent!!!! Insulting!!!!'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-10727117/The-Thief-Wife-Canoe-blasted-Hartlepool-residents-casts-insulting-accent.html

[David L]

Me and the wife watched it last night and I enjoyed it but she said his character (selfishly obsessive) made her feel uncomfortable

[David L]

Lots of complaints from fellow Monkey Hangers being reported on the Mail Online, this morning:



They wrote on Twitter: 'The thief, his wife and a canoe, so, why is it that ITV think people from Teesside speak with a Geordie accent. This happened in Hartlepool and we DO NOT have that accent!!!! Insulting!!!!'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-10727117/The-Thief-Wife-Canoe-blasted-Hartlepool-residents-casts-insulting-accent.html

It's a similar complaint, the world over. The thing is, unless you are from the north, a Teeside accent is the same as a Geordie accent. It works the same for southern accents too. Trouble is, a lot of folks are precious about how they speak. Personally, I hate my own accent!

[David L]

I missed the first half of the follow-up to this drama shown last night called The Thief, His Wife And The Canoe: The Real Story. But managed to watch the last 30mins or so. from what I saw, the real Darwin came across as more 'normal' than his portrayal in the drama - had a bit of a twinkle in his eye at times that probably made him quite persuasive (where his wife was concerned). I have to commend the producers for their casting of Monica Dolan as Anne, uncannily similar in appearance.
Dolan's performance in the drama was the standout for me. Excellent actress.

And I have to say, I did pick up the difference between a Teeside accent and a Geordie accent from this programme, a lot less pronounced or softer, a bit more cultured or...posh(?)

[Slim]

I missed the documentary last night because I was at a gig, 'er indoors saw it though and said that my old classmate Tony Hutchinson featured prominently.

Tony was also portrayed briefly in the drama and mentioned by name in the list of characters in the credits, although I don't think anyone referred to him by name in the script.

I would say that the Hartlepool accent is a lot coarser than Geordie, sadly. But Middlesbrough sounds softer than Hartlepool.

You'd hear the difference most prominently in words like "apart" and "work". In Geordie those would be something like "aport" and "wuuurk" whereas in Hartlepool, "apaaaaaahht" and "waaairk"