Options
'The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies' -ITV drama about Joanna Yeates
Derek Faye
Posts: 1,081 Forum Member
✭✭✭
Saw the trailer for this last night. Personally I think it looks good, and from the short trailer quite respectable, in fact I actually thought it was real clips from the actual news footage etc of the time.
It's been four years this Christmas since Joanna was killed so some are saying it's far too soon, I wonder if the producers had any direct contact with Jefferies or Joanna's family? Could be the makers of 'See No Evil' & 'Appropriate Adult' who made this, they seem to get critical acclaim for accuracy.
It's been four years this Christmas since Joanna was killed so some are saying it's far too soon, I wonder if the producers had any direct contact with Jefferies or Joanna's family? Could be the makers of 'See No Evil' & 'Appropriate Adult' who made this, they seem to get critical acclaim for accuracy.
0
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
It does indeed look very good.
It's made by Carnival Films and has some top, top names involved. The writer is Peter Morgan, who wrote The Queen, and the director is Roger Michell, who's done loads but is probably best known for Notting Hill. Michell was taught by Christopher Jefferies at school.
It's a fair point about being quite soon after the murder but the focus is on the arrest of Jefferies and how he was hounded by the media. I'm not sure about Jo Yeates's fanily, but Jefferies has certainly backed the production:
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/23/christopher-jefferies-itv-drama-lost-honour-joanna-yeates
It was a terrible case,. The police inquiry seems to have been poor (ITN was banned from press conferences for saying so) and focussed on an innocent man who was then vilified by the press. at a time when the media thought it was untouchable.
Jefferies not only received huge libel damages from several media organisations, but some were prosecuted (quite rightly) for contempt of court. As a journalist myself, I'd like to think no-one could be targeted in the way Jefferies was, that we've learnt something, but I'm not sure.
I remember it being dubbed "the Christmas murder". I think her body was found Boxing day? I remember getting ready to go to a family boxing day gathering thing and seeing it on the news and we were talking about it. I felt very sad for her family but also relieved they had an answer. Quite a lot happened in a short space of time really.
That describes very well what happened really. It was played out as if the characters were fictional when of course they were real people. It was almost as if it were a game.
She went missing on December 17 and her body was found on Christmas Day. A terrible case and probably one that got extra attention because of the time of year and the fact it's normally a slow news period.
I do hope this drama doesn't upset the family too much - but it's a story that needs telling. The poor police investigation and most importantly the trial-by-media almost robbed the family of justice.
Joe Sims - he played Nigel in Broadchurch and is the murderer in this.
This could well have been an almighty miscarriage of justice - that's the story, rather than a murder story. I do hope it's respectful of the Yeates family - I'm sure it will be, looking at the people involved.
The idea that someone's life can be ruined due to some poor policing and a lot of irresponsible, ignorant reporting is a cautionary tale in an era when any idiot can publish anything online without a thought of the consequences.
As for Jeffries it was Mirror/Sun who decided once he was arrested that he would be charged. In the interim couple of days the lurid stuff was published. Media said that Police told them they had got their guy. Doesn't excuse them though. Dominic Grieve took the two papers to court actually handling the case in court himself. He used it to establish contempt of court in a case where there were no charges. He wasn't stopping conviction. The parameters were clearly set.
This is what troubles me about today's multimedia world. Idiots think they can say what they want. Jefferies was especially vilified with the untrue allegations about his past but you're right that Joanna Yeates's boyfriend was also put under the microscope.
The police performance was generally appalling, but - as you say - that doesn't excuse the disgraceful actions of several papers. I love and value my profession but in cases like this I despair.
Dominic Grieve took a lead on this and I really respect him for this. His predecessors had taken what might be called a hands-off approach and the result was an anything-goes feeling among the worst parts of the popular press. the contempt of court prosecutions were of even more interest to me than the libel cases because he was acting on behalf of society.
Reckless and downright incorrect reporting should have consequences.
Its human nature to make assumptions on the basis of someones behaviour or looks or lifestyle, but it becomes a problem when people in a position of authority or influence (media) start influencing and pushing those assumptions.
Personally I thought he looked gay (I dont know if he is or not) and therefore felt at the time it wasnt likely to be him on that basis. So we all (whether we admit it or not), make our own minds up but we shouldnt let that affect decision making if we are in a position to make those decisions.
Imagine if the real killer hadnt been caught, this man would have really been hounded forever.
I agree, he was rather odd looking, so people assumed he must be guilty. When he appeared later at the press enquiry, he had smartened himself up with a haircut and a suit and looked totally different.
Quite right. Mutterings in private are different to gossiping police and a lynch-mob press.
There's a code or formula the media uses in these sort of cases - a loner, keeps himself to himself etc - but this case just went bonkers. The police had a lot to answer for in telling the media they'd got their man but even if he HAD been, there was no reason to print what they did.
And if the real killer hadn't pleaded guilty (to manslaughter - he was found guilty of murder- there would have probably been some "no smoke without fire" rumblings.
I think we'd all smarten ourselves up if we were in the public eye!
He explained in one of the Bristol newspapers that he'd deliberately changed his appearance to avoid being recognised. I hate to think anyone who looked "odd" was judged to be a murderer based on his appearance.What sort of a society are we if we hound an innocent person because of how they look?
I'd like to think we've learnt something from this case. It curbed the worst excesses of this case but i suspect it's only a matter of time before someone else is hung out to dry in such a serious way.
Anyway, let's hope this drama lives up to expectations. The trailer looked excellent - I'd forgotten this was due to be on and was really pleased to see it coming up so soon.
The trailers do look excellent for this, glad it's made by the right people, as so many things like this can be ruined if in the wrong hands.
It has similarities to the Colin Stagg case about it. "Oh he's a bit odd, he must be guilty"
It was blatently clear that parts of media still believed that Police had got the wrong person. The shock when it was announced that he had pleaded guilty to manslaughter was palpable. Martin Brunt that includes you! As you say no smoke without fire would have rung around Chris Jeffries if this hadn't happened. As for the boyfriend I mentioned earlier the Police had to come out and say specifically that they had evidence that ruled him out.
There was a docu drama about Fred and Rose West which told us lots we did not know
I must admit i had forgotten about the boyfriend and the suspicions of the mob against him. Of course, many murders are "domestics" so naturally family and friends are investigated - I remember another lady called Joanne who went missing and the boyfriend wept and pleaded for her to be found, when all the while he;d murdered her and hidden her body in a cupboard.
I do wonder if 24-hour news - whether on TV or the net - is to blame for the mob mentality. No time for considered thought and sober reflection - it all has to be NOW.
Appropriate Adult was superb. Sometimes we do need to understand what happened and why to really understand the impact.
I think this story needs telling. I'm sure it will respect the family and the memory of the victim. I hope so at least.
Wednesday December 10 and Thursday December 11, from 9pm to 10.30pm.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0914327/reference
You may know him from the manager in Trollied, or from Being Human.
They're the main things i've seen him in plus other bit parts and I think he's a decent actor.
He's been in plenty else though.
I saw the clip of this show last night and thought it was news footage of the real Chris Jeffries, it looked so much like him.
When he was released without charge three days after his arrest, Mr Jefferies had to be protected by friends and family from the media and the coverage it had already published.
He changed his appearance and was unable to return to his home for months. Now, in the first part of a new series of 'A Life Less Ordinary', he examines some of the worst excesses of the coverage, sometimes for the first time, in a bid to describe what it's like to be thrust into the media spotlight in such a dramatic way
I have a vague recollection of a case like that. Wasn't it around Valentine's Day one year?
It seems that in some sections of the media, and some sectiond of society, if you are a middle-aged man who lives alone and are deemed "slightly eccentric" if anything happens that grabs the media attention, especially if a child goes missing or a woman in murdered you are automatically guilty, as this case amply demonstrated.
However what those sections of the media didn't count on was Christopher Jeffries fighting back and taking them to court for the way they had pilloried him.
When the police ask family members to do a public appeal the purpose can be two-fold. Firstly to appeal for further information to catch the perpetrator but also so they can study the body-language and behaviour of those giving the press conference if they think they might be involved. Mick And Mairead Philpott, who murdered their children in the house fire in Derby, are perfect examples of this.