Canoe Man

Absolutely atrocious acting, poorly laid out direction, a story although simple was made quite incoherent and even more unbelievable not from an exasperation perspective but from the perspective that the story looks like the actors didn't even know what they were trying to portray or convince the viewers of. Plastic acting, little or no emotion, badly timed emotion, out of context emotion and responses, a really poorly directed and put together project all round.

This drama documentary is a briskly paced retelling about John and Anne Darwin.

The couple became notorious when John Darwin walked into a police station claiming he had amnesia.

He had been declared dead after going missing when he went canoeing in the north sea some years earlier.

It was a scam to obtain life insurance as the Darwin had money troubles. It was John who came up with the scheme to declare himself dead.

The plan unravel when the couple went to Panama to start a new life.

The drama portrays John Darwin as a schemer. Someone who always had ideas above his station but it always went wrong. Anne just reluctantly went along with it.

The judge highlighted Anne as a liar during the court hearing. Someone who could not be entirely trusted.

There was more to the changes in the Panama visa laws that led to John Darwin to return home. Maybe he thought Anne would double cross him or maybe he had started a relationship with another woman and wanted to abandon his wife.

It would had been better if the drama explored such noirish avenues. Unfortunately it was too low budget and ended up being a plain rehash.

Considering the story is quite a fascinating one, this could have – OK, should have, been better. For starters, it felt like a re-enactment rather than an actual film or a documentary, which wasn't great. The acting is actually OK, there are no moments of brilliance and it's far from great, but you can tell the cast (for the most part) kind of knew what they were doing. The camera work is pretty bad, awkward shots, unnecessary use of slow motions and, colour filters and... well, quite boring. What keeps you watching, essentially, is the story itself. It's curious to see, to understand, how this couple managed to get away with this for as long as they did. Unfortunately the production just doesn't add anything to it – the script isn't great, the dialogue feels fake at times and the voice over is doesn't feel like it is adding anything or helping us understand more what's going on in the wife's head. This is definitely a story that should be told, but it probably could do with a bit more on the creative and production side of things. Adding a bit of drama and making it more engaging would maybe have gotten a few more viewers interested.

John Darwin hatches an elaborate plan, to set off on his canoe, never to return, home that is, and for his wife Anne to claim the insurance.

Made for BBC4 back in 2010, it's a fascinating story, sadly it's a relatively dull production, the fact that it wasn't put out on BBC1 or BBC2 is quite telling, it's a fairly low budget affair, it doesn't look particularly good, and it's a little lacking.

Bernard Hill stars as John, Saskia Reeves played Anne, two very capable actors, both generally so good, so reliable, but I found the pair quite flat here, I'm not sure it was their fault, they each just battled a bland script.

If you want to see the best version of this incredible story, check out The Thief, his Wife and The Canoe, starring Eddie Marsan and Monica Dolan, it's infinitely superior.

Worth a look, I'm just staggered as to how they managed to make such a fascinatingly dull drama from such a rich plot.

5/10.

Truly dreadful show with some of the worst acting possible. I only watched because I live in Southwold where it was filmed. All the acting was poor but the female lead unbelievably so.