The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies

The drama portrays very sensitively a particular individual in extraordinary circumstances. The acting by Jason Watkins is outstanding, using subtleties of body language/tone to convey the oddities of an individual while allowing a balanced impression of the whole human being to come through. The script also, importantly, seemed respectful of the family tragedy at the heart of the story.

There has been a comment that the drama is 'propaganda for the Leveson inquiry'. However, the drama is ultimately about media intrusion into private lives so inevitably must make reference to Leveson; it would be quite an omission if it didn't! So there is no point criticising it for that. I am no great fan of ITV but 'hats off' to them for broadcasting this; what is more worth criticising is the lack of exposure by all other media outlets of an excellent drama.

By the way, I haven't used the word 'eccentric' in the above because actually we are all odd in our ways - every one of us - which is why the message from the film is so very important. Its about protecting individuals from the media machine, not about protecting so-called 'eccentrics'.

...I recently watched this movie(both parts combined) on Netflix, at the behest of my wife...

... I was immediately(2m's) riveted by the intense acting of Mr. Jason Hawkins... What an actor!!!

Drawn in by his character I grew to actually like this man and all his peculiarities(3i's) and in some ways identified with him.

Later on I was appalled at what they did to this kind man and actually manifested a genuine panic/anxiety attack as the film went on.

I will not spoil the film for anyone, but I insist that you view this film in it's entirety(it is quite lengthy),..as you MAY learn a valuable lesson from it...I know I did.

... In closing, my hat is off to Mr. Hawkins and company for a job well, well done.

He deserves an Academy Award in my humble opinion.

No-one living in North Bristol at the time of these events just a few years ago could support the first two somewhat negative reviews of this piece. We were there. It was our local news story become a national monster. Allowing for inevitable dramatic licence, it seemed to be an accurate reflection of how events and the shameless excesses of the rabid tabloid press conspired to vilify an admittedly eccentric, but ultimately innocent, private, local man.. The themes of press freedom vs press intrusion are slightly skimmed over as the producers and writers concentrate more on showing just how the 'freedom of the press' becomes used as an excuse to justify the insinuation of the media into the lives of private individuals under the guise of satisfying the 'public interest', whilst in reality just being a vehicle for the peddling of cheap gossip, innuendo and character assassination in the pursuit of shifting copy for profit.

My review is in no way going to be as comprehensive as those that precede me as I feel are already more than adequate. I was, however, intrigued by the review of drywontonmee and his/her scepticism about the inclusion of the Leveson Inquiry...... maybe it was indulged promotion but maybe it was relevant to the timelines and the actual events that did follow!!

Whilst it states it is a drama based on real events, it doesn't go as far as to say how much is truth and how much is 'imagined or suggested' and which parties (if any) were consulted/involved.

I remember this case as I returned from living in the US for 6 months on 30th Dec 2010 and I remember the footage of Christopher Jefferies being taking into custody. What I had no awareness of was his subsequent release or the subsequent conviction of Vincent Tabak, nor of the efforts of Mr Jefferies to clear his name and defamation of character and so, I am glad that I watched this which set the record straight in addition to enjoying it as a drama on TV.

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