Drama tells of wrongly-accused ‘hero’

The Lost Honour is based on the story of retired teacher Christopher Jefferies, who was arrested when Ms Yeates, who rented a flat from him, was found dead on Christmas Day 2010.

He was questioned for two days before being bailed and faced a barrage of press attention before Dutch national Vincent Tabak, who lived next door to Ms Yeates in Bristol, was jailed for life in October 2011 for her murder.

Morgan, the writer of The Queen and Frost/Nixon, said: “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.”

He has teamed up with director Roger Michell, who was taught by Mr Jefferies, for the two-part ITV drama which has started filming in Bristol.

Mr Jefferies will be played by Being Human star Jason Watkins.

Mr Michell 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.”