The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.