8/10
"Just like the Day of the Jackel, without of course killing the French President"
25 April 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This show is based on the true story of John Darwin who rather than be declared bankrupt decided to fake his own death to claim on the insurance money, he expected his wife Anne to support him in this endeavour without bothering to inform his own sons Anthony and Mark of his intentions.

I hadn't heard of the case and have absolutely no knowledge whatsoever of its complete ramifications, so I have no idea of how close this comes to the full reality of the actual case.

What strikes me from just the first episode is the complete stupidity of John Darwin this 'criminal mastermind' who genuinely believes that he has a foolproof scheme, yet at every step of even the initial stages he proves the he has absolutely no idea of what is actually involved.

He is completely deluded that he can actually survive any amount of time in the wild in a tent, when in reality he merely gets wet wading ashore and he's whinging about chilblains.

He expects his long suffering spouse to be in constant touch by phone because he's "lonely", even having the temerity when he phones her to be annoyed because she can't talk to him, as their sons and old bill are in the house.

Really his lunacy is highlighted in truly epic proportions when his wife Anne asked him what next after, he actually seriously considered that he could just "go where no one would ever think of looking for him, next door."
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