Fake canoes
EDDIE MARSAN AND MONICA DOLAN PORTRAY A REAL-LIFE COUPLE WHO ATTEMPTED TO COMMIT A SICKENING FRAUD – AND ALMOST GOT AWAY WITH IT…
This fab four-part drama tells the unbelievable truth of how John Darwin faked his own death to claim a fortune in life insurance. The tale is narrated by John’s wife, Anne, who convinced the world her husband had gone missing while canoeing off the coast of their Hartlepool hometown. Later, Anne and John relocated to Panama to start a new life, before their fraud was exposed. Here,
Eddie Marsan and Monica Dolan, who play John and Anne, tell us more…
Hi, both! Do you remember the shocking story from the time, and did that help you get into your characters? Monica Yeah, I remembered about this man walking into a police station – that’s how most people first heard of it. And watching footage was useful to hear Anne’s voice. Eddie It can help, because there are interviews with John: there’s one where he has a glint in his eye, and he always has a slight smile, which is something I instinctively brought to the character.
Is it right that you, and Mark Stanley and Dominic Applewhite, who play the Darwins’ sons, spoke in character during filming? Monica We had these little cabins, and Eddie came out and did a Hartlepool accent, saying, “I’m goin’ to talk like this now, are you?” And I said, “I’m talkin’ like that already!”
What was it like filming in the Darwins’ hometown? Eddie I was shocked by how small Seaton Carew is. When John went missing, it was packed with TV crews. Two weeks later, he was walking down the high street! He had a beard and a stick, thinking no one would recognise him! Monica I think it was clever to do all the exteriors in Hartlepool first, because that gave us an experience of the atmosphere, and the rain!
Do you think viewers will empathise with Anne? Monica Well, not to lessen their culpability at all, but they were in terrible debt. It’s impossible not to judge her, but there are moments when we ask ourselves what we might have done. Hopefully, it helps you understand her.
What have you taken away from playing the Darwins? Eddie That narcissists think no one else sees the world as complex as they do, so they lie. And that’s what John did. Monica But how much responsibility do you take for challenging somebody’s lies when it’s got nothing to do with you? Maybe some people did recognise him… Eddie Some people came up to us to say, “I always knew!”