The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

In the cold, frosty winter of 2010, a young woman called Joanna Yeates went missing in a small English suburb, only for her body to be found buried in the snow on Christmas Day. Without any solid, firm evidence, the finger of suspicion pointed straight away at Christopher Jeffries (Jason Watkins), Joanna's reclusive, eccentric landlord, who had a reputation as a 'local weirdo.' Before long, he had been arrested and questioned under caution in connection with the murder, only to be released from remand when a demanding legal counsel highlighted the lack of hard proof which saw him freed. But Jeffries had already been a subject of trial by media, with the various tabloid rags ripping him to shreds and attacking his character, before the real killer was finally caught. There then followed a determined legal effort with the same council to bring the press to charge on their conduct, with Jeffries even being invited to add his voice to the Leveson Inquiry.

We like to think of Britain, certainly in modern times, as an enlightened, understanding, tolerant society, where those that are different and don't quite fit in to the norm are, if not always included, at least respected and left to live their lives without any undue harassment. It's horrific to think that small mindedness, especially in times of darkness, can come to the fore and soil our national character, and yet that was the bind Christopher Jeffries found himself in. This quaint, old fashioned, unassuming man, who kept himself to himself and lived pretty obliviously to everyone else's impressions of him, was suddenly thrust in to the national spotlight, to face undue, unfounded condemnation from everyone.

This TV drama from ITV caught my eye, primarily because I remembered the case when it first happened (shows how old I'm getting when I start casting my mind back far!) and, not generally watching a lot of TV, it says a lot that I was intrigued to watch both parts. Or maybe just the character of Jeffries himself had me wondering a little. It's just as well, if that was the case, as Jeffries is literally the sole driving force of the project, occupying almost every scene , as befits documenting a guy who had very little contact with others. And so it's very pleasing that Watkins's portrayal of him is so dynamic. It's known from the magazines that he met the real life Jeffries in preparation for his role, and obviously observed his every mannerism, completely immersing himself in this character. It's an astonishing piece of method acting, and the driving force of the production.

So focused is it on Jeffries that it detrimentally leaves out a bit of subtext involving others involved in the tragedy, notably Joanna's nearest and dearest, which robs it of some more solid human drama that it could have evoked. But a central performance this invigorating can't be ignored, and neither can a surprise celebrity cameo that brings the end to life a bit. Mainly, though, it's a challenging examination of how those who are different are treated and how far we think we've come, but really haven't. ****

Excellent acting by a great ensemble cast, but overwhelmingly by Jason Watkins, make this both a meditation on the human condition in a media saturated age, and a gently ironic portrayal of a true 'eccentric' which never descends into parody. Leaves the viewer with lots of food for thought about how our society deals with "difference", how individuals see themselves, and how lazy thinking can seduce even the best intentioned.

I had never heard of either Christopher Jefferies or the other people involved in the murder of his neighbour but then I don't read UK Tabloids.

Christopher Jefferies, is from the start, an unusual man.

When a female neighbour is murdered it appears that the police find no alternative other than to make him the prime suspect. He has (1) a Donald Trump style hair do (2) is correct (3) doesn't watch television and so is unaware of 'Strictly Come Dancing' and other elements of pop-culture and (4) speaks in a stilted fashion.

When he is arrested, he deals with the police questions with dignity. Of course, if he had had the natural reaction, they would have considered this evidence of his violent nature.

The performance echoed, for me, Toby Jones performance in 'Marvellous', of another unusual character.

The way that the media treats somebody that catches their focus becomes a huge part of the story. We could all have our lives turned inside out if newspapers printed photos of us next to headlines saying how odd we were.

Its unfair that people who are slightly odd (as we all are ) are so easily judged.

A thought provoking drama I'm glad I watched.

Jason Watkins plays the the calm-kept to himself Christopher Jeffries perfectly , a great little film aswell with some harrowing scenes, must watch

This film is based very closely on a true story and the victim, Christopher Jeffries, worked with the writing staff to make sure they got the story right. My love of history and insistence that stories remain true to the facts make this a must-see film. The fact that it's made so well makes it doubly so.

Originally, this film was a two-part British film shown on television. However, they've combined them to make a full-length film...and this is the version I saw.

Christopher Jefferies is a very odd man. No, he's not a bad person but he has a weird hairdo and never married or had any close relationships. So, when a murder occurs to one of his tenants, the police unwisely arrest him and question him. Their thinking is that an odd-ball single guy might have done it...and they had nothing more on the guy than this. During the three days they held him before he was ultimately released (and soon completely exonerated), the British press went nuts...vilifying the man and making him out to be some sort of sick pervert. While they had nothing on which to base this other than his hair and peculiar habits, the press destroyed Jefferies and the film is about all of this as well as his fight for justice. The film is very compelling, very well acted and kept my interest throughout. The movie is a bit low energy but I don't think that's a deficit...as the man really was a low energy sort of guy. Very well made and a delightful film with a very strong message.