ITV to tell story of Christopher Jefferies

Filming has begun on a new two-part ITV drama, The Lost Honour, starring Being Human actor Jason Watkins (Being Human, Little Dorrit) in the true story of Christopher Jefferies.

The drama from Carnival Films and Bafta-winning writer, Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon, The Last King of Scotland), tells the story of retired schoolmaster Christopher Jefferies who was arrested when his tenant, 25-year-old landscape architect Joanna Yeates, was found murdered on Christmas Day in 2010. While in police custody, Jefferies became the most familiar face in Britain.

This powerful drama begins the day before Yeates’ disappearance, and follows the innocent Jefferies through his arrest, release and subsequent isolation as his un-sought fame profoundly affected his life.  On January 20th the real killer, neighbour Vincent Tabak, was finally arrested.

The cast also includes Peter Polycarpou as Louis Charalambous and Shaun Parkes as Paul Okebu, Jefferies’ legal team.

Director Roger Michell who followed the case intently at the time said, “Peter Morgan has written a vivid and ultimately uplifting account of a man who was wrongly accused and found himself at the centre of a media storm. It’s a story that celebrates our right to be eccentric, and it also, as it happens, is the story of a rather brilliant man who was once my English teacher!”

Writer, Peter Morgan says, “No one will ever forget the man with the eccentric hair who became so connected with the murder of Joanna Yeates. I want to make sure that no one forgets the same man who was acquitted, and who fought back to clear his name, and became a very British kind of hero.”

The Executive Producer is Gareth Neame, (Downton Abbey, The Hollow Crown).

Gareth said: “Peter Morgan tells stories that deal with significant state-of-the-nation issues, often through the involvement of a single individual.  We are thrilled to see Christopher Jefferies’ extraordinary story brought to life by a tip-top combination of Peter Morgan, Roger Michell and Kevin Loader and we can already see from rehearsals that Jason Watkins will brilliantly bring the character of Jefferies to our screens.”

The Lost Honour commenced filming on 4th November at various locations around Bristol and at the Bottle Yard studios.