As travelling young British couple Joanne Lees (Joanne Froggatt) and Peter Falconio (Laurence Breuls) drive through the Australian Outback in a bright orange camper van, their camaraderie is obvious. Close, carefree and in love, they are having the time of their lives.

Driving down the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territories late one night, they are waved over by a man in a Four-Wheel Drive. There are sparks flying out of their exhaust, he tells them. Peter gets out of the camper van to investigate and asks Joanne to rev the engine.

Joanne hears a bang from the back of the van and suddenly the driver of the 4WD is upon her, threatening her with a gun. He ties her hands behind her back and brutally throws her into the back of his ‘ute’, ordering her to stay there while he disappears for a few minutes. Peter is nowhere to be seen.

While he is gone, Joanne seizes her chance to escape. She spots a small gap in the canvas, squeezes through it and runs into the bush, where she crouches in the undergrowth, hardly daring to breathe. The attacker returns and although he stalks the bush for her, his torch sweeping terrifying close to her on several occasions, she remains undetected. Eventually a car passes and the man stops his search and drives off. Its four hours before Joanne plucks up the courage to leave her hiding place and throw herself into the path of an oncoming road train for help.

Driver Vince Millar (Gary Waddell) takes Joanne to the nearest truck stop, in Barrow Creek, to call the police. Several hours later, Sergeant Kesby (Richard Keifel) and his team arrive to find Joanne distraught with worry about Peter. After taking a statement, they set out to search for the van. They soon find a dried blood stain at the side of the road and the van abandoned in the bush. They return to Joanne – now attracting local press as news of her story spreads – at the road house and tell her to expect the worst. The bar’s owner Helen (Denise Roberts) takes pity on Joanne and takes her home with her to wait for news. The blood is thought to be Peter’s – and the search continues.

Questioned time and time again, Joanne reiterates her story with a frustrated resolve. But there is something about her manner – head held high, more reserved than emotional – which is putting doubt into the minds of those questioning her. To the press, she doesn’t seem to be behaving in the way people in her situation ‘normally’ do. She isn’t weepy or compliant enough. She isn’t giving them good ‘victim’.

Speculation that there is something odd about Joanne and her story is spreading like wildfire. She said her hands had been tied behind her back, but she was found with them tied in front of her. She claimed to have been moved from the front to the back of the 4WD through the front seats, yet there is no such gap in a ute which would make this possible.

Joanne agrees, on Helen’s advice, to talk to a local journalist friend, Mark Wilton (Morgan O’Neill), but his article only inflames speculation and results in Joanne refusing to talk to any other journalists. But the police still have no leads and need Joanne to cooperate with the press. Eventually convinced that it may help to find Peter, she agrees on the condition that she can approve the questions beforehand. Journalists are incensed when Joanne agrees to answer only three – and only to one reporter and one photographer. The rest of the press are ushered out and Joanne – wearing a tight vest with the words ‘Cheeky Monkey’ emblazoned across her chest – delivers her appeal to the world. She is controlled and calm. And the world’s press have already taken a dislike to her.

Joanne returns to England, frustrated with the progress of the case – there is still no sign of a suspect. As the press continue to scrutinise her, she eventually caves in to repeated calls from TV interviewer Martin Bashir (Raj Sidhu) begging her to break her silence. She gives Bashir the interview the world wants, but her cool demeanour continues to be questioned by the sceptical media.

Then, back in Australia, a petty criminal, arrested for possession of drugs, offers the police a deal. A friend of his has boasted of killing Peter Falconio. His name is Bradley Murdoch (Richard Carter). Murdoch is finally tracked down and arrested in an armed showdown at a supermarket. But he immediately protests his innocence and says he’s been ’set up’. Joanne is shown an ID parade of photos and picks out Murdoch. Despite the absence of a body, Murdoch is charged with Peter’s murder.

The case is prepared against Murdoch. Prosecuting is Director of Public Prosecutions Rex Wild (Bryan Brown) and his assistants Anne (Asher Keddie) and Tony (Tom Long). Flamboyant ‘hot shot’ defence lawyer Grant Algie (John Wood) takes on Murdoch’s case and sets out to pick holes in the prosecution case, particularly Joanne’s story, at the committal hearing. His line of attack is to raise something Joanne had already told the police. A friend she had been emailing for support after her ordeal in Australia turns out to be a man named Nick Reilly – someone she had slept with before she left Sydney. The press are delighted to seize upon this “secret” affair. Joanne returns to the UK with the prospect of the further ordeal of the trial still to come.

As Joanne awaits the trial, she struggles to rebuild her life back in England. All seems lost and she wonders if Murdoch will ever be brought to account for Peter’s murder. A major breakthrough is made – the prosecution have discovered a testing technique which can read low levels of DNA. UK scientist Dr Jonathon Whitaker (Peter Mcallum) finds Murdoch’s DNA on the homemade hand cuffs he used to bind her. Joanne must fly back to Australia to once again face Murdoch – and Algie – in court. She is supported by the Falconio family, with whom she sits every day in the courtroom.

Although Joanne demonstrates in court how she moved her tied hands from behind to in front of her, she still has trouble recalling parts of her ordeal and opening up emotionally about her relationship with Peter on the stand.

Rex Wild takes the jury through an exhausting line up of witnesses – some even appearing to be of more use to the defence than the prosecution. He gambles that Northern Territory people are solid people who are interested in facts, not soap opera. But will the jury convict?

After an agonising wait, the jury returns its verdict. Murdoch is guilty of murder and attempted abduction, and sentenced to 28 years in prison. Joanne Lees can finally get on with her life without public and press scrutiny of her every move. It is a life, however, without the man she had always hoped to share it with – Peter Falconio.

* NEW ITV1 Network Sunday 8 April 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM