ITV has commissioned The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe, written and executive produced by screenwriter Chris Lang, with filming to begin this spring and the cast still to be revealed.
Lang, the screenwriter behind Unforgotten, Dark Heart and Innocent, will tell through a four-part drama how the former prison officer staged his death in March 2002 to claim life insurance and avoid bankruptcy, unbeknownst to their sons Mark and Anthony.
Most Popular
-
1
National Mackem Day 2022: 14 things you'll only understand if you're from Sunderland
-
2
Sunderland drunk staggered into traffic after being found slumped at side of road
-
3
Met Office announces yellow weather warning for thunderstorms across North East following heatwave
-
4
Durham police appeal for help to find 33-year-old in connection with alleged burglaries
-
5
Campaigners rally against Local Plan after farmland in Cleadon earmarked for 156 homes
It is based on the unpublished manuscript by David Leigh, the first journalist to interview Anne in Panama City after the couple had fled the UK.
The drama, made by award winner Story Films, will focus on how she became complicit in her husband’s deception he had gone missing while canoeing off Seaton Carew, where they owned two large houses.
John, mortgaged to the hilt with debts of £64,000, laid low in a bedsit next door as Anne was questioned by police.
But their secret was exposed by a photo of them in a Panama real estate office in July 2006.
At her trial, Anne pleaded not guilty, arguing she was coerced by her husband, but the jury did not believe her, with both jailed for more than six years.
Chris said: “If I'd tried to sell this project as an original story, it would never have got further than the pitch.
"’It's just too far-fetched, Chris, no-one would ever believe that any of that could actually have happened’.
"Except it did. All of it. And I loved writing every, single, word.”
The drama has been commissioned by Head of Drama Polly Hill and will be produced in association with All3Media International.
The project – the latest in a line of programmes based on the scam – will be directed by Richard Laxton, while fellow directors David Nath and Peter Beard will also work on the shows, with Susie Liggat to executive produce and Alison Sterling also producing.