Jason Watkins says changing public's view of Christopher Jeffries was 'special'

True crime fascinates the public but there are times where rushing to find a killer can ruin someone's life, such was the case for Christopher Jeffries who was falsely accused of murdering his tenant Joanna Yeates in Bristol in 2010.

Jason Watkins is proud to have been able to change public opinion of him in ITV's The Lost Honour of Christopher Jeffries, he tells Yahoo UK. Speaking about the drama for Role Recall, the actor recounts what it was like to meet his real-life counterpart but also what it meant to be part of clearing his name.

"It's nice to be able to think that you've corrected the impression of somebody in the press, that you've been part of helping to tell his story and the reality of what he went through," Watkins explains.

Yeates went missing from her flat on 17 December 2010 and was found dead on 25 December, she had been strangled to death. During the initial investigation, Jeffries was questioned by police and was later released without charge, however, he was vilified in the press in the process.

Police later arrested another tenant from the building, Vincent Tabak, who was found guilty of Yeates' murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in October 2011.

Watkins won a BAFTA for his portrayal of Jeffries, adding: "The Lost Honour of Christopher Jeffries was a real incredibly satisfying thing to make, irrespective of the reaction and its success. It was the making of it that was extraordinary.

Read more: Jason Watkins hits out at The Crown’s critics

"Occasionally things come along where planets align and you're almost led by other forces. There was the force that, obviously, a young woman had died, Joanna Yeates had been murdered [so] you felt a sense of responsibility for a story that you're making about the death of a daughter. I myself had lost a young daughter some years previously so I was weirdly connected in that way.

"It was about something, it's about terrible loss to a family of their daughter, about press regulation and how that needs to be monitored, and about the celebration of an eccentric, and to a certain extent the thriller role of who did it and why. All those things came together."

Watkins adds: "I do remember doing scenes across the table where I thought, 'hmm, something's happening here', [getting] an award too was very nice, but it was the making of it that was so special."

The film was directed by Roger Michell and written by Peter Morgan, both of whom Watkins has worked with on multiple occasions. But what made the experience special was that Watkins was able to work with Jeffries during production.

"Christopher was very much part of the whole process of building that piece," Watkins explains. "I met him and spent most of the time staring at him, looking at him, seeing how he moved and stuff.

"I think I asked the same question twice, even three times and he'd say 'what I've just told you.' It was looking at how he was saying things as much as what he was saying in the very nice way. Because of show called Trollied, which is as comedy that I did that was filmed in Bristol, I saw him [after making the film], so I keep in contact with him."

Yahoo's full Role Recall interview with Jason Watkins will be released on Thursday, 18 July. His new show McDonald and Dodds returns for its fourth series on ITV1 on Sunday, 21 July.

This article originally appeared on Yahoo TV UK at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/jason-watkins-lost-honour-christopher-jeffries-113151348.html