Mark and Anthony are close with their mother
ITV's new documentary, The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe: The Real Story, airs on Thursday night and tells the bizarre real-life story of John Darwin, who faked his own death in order to claim life insurance money with the help of his wife, Anne.
MORE: The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe: What happened to John and Anne Darwin?
The couple's children, Mark and Anthony, were left in the dark about their parents' scheme and were devastated when the truth finally came out in 2007. But what happened to the two sons after the scandal died down?
WATCH: What did you think of the drama?
What happened to Mark and Anthony Darwin?
Mark and Anthony had no idea that their parents had planned an elaborate scheme to claim life insurance money and truly believed their father to be dead before his reappearance in 2007.
Anthony was in Canada when he learned that his father had disappeared. Speaking about how he felt upon seeing the infamous photograph taken of his parents in the Panama property office, he said: "My initial reaction was that someone had stuck it together on Photoshop.
Mark and Anthony were portrayed by Mark Stanley and Dominic Applewhite in the drama
"The following day I read about it in the paper. I felt upset, betrayed, I don’t know. I had no inkling that he was still alive," reports ChronicleLive.
Both Anthony and Mark gave evidence at Anne's trial in 2008, after which she was sentenced to six and a half years in prison. Speaking about his mother in 2016, Mark said: "What I have gone through to get to a stage where I can forgive has been tough. It's taken deep thought and a difficult process of accepting her faults."
Anne, who is now retired and living in the north of England, has managed to rebuild her relationships with her two sons.
Anne has managed to rebuild relationships with her two sons
Journalist David Leigh, who has remained close with Anne since first interviewing her in Panama in 2007, appeared on on Tuesday and gave an update on her connection with her sons.
"Anne now has both boys back in her life, she has her four grandchildren and she lives a very quiet and anonymous existence. She's obviously not enjoying this very much," he said, referring to the ITV drama.
Unlike his ex-wife, John, who is living in Manila with his new wife, has not managed to reconcile with his sons, according to David. He said: "[John] has no contact with them at all. He's in Manila and he keeps in touch with one of them and the other has completely disowned him. He doesn't seem to care."
ITV's four-part drama tells John and Anne's story
It was recently reported by RadioTimes.com that one of the Darwins' sons had visited the set of the ITV drama during filming and was disguised in a baseball cap and a COVID mask.
"[He was there] on the first day of filming, in disguise," explained the show's executive producer, David Nath. "We didn't know he was there until a few weeks later."
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