The programme will show the pain, suffering and loneliness endured by Lee during his self-imposed exile from RTE. “It is very bleak, very depressing,” a source said. “It is like The Road only more desolate.”

Lee, who represented Dublin South, is understood to have felt ineffectual in the Dail. “Tell me about it,” Enda Kenny is believed to have said.

The documentary on Lee follows similar programmes on Charlie Bird’s devastating experiences as Washington Correspondent.

It is believed that a documentary on the loneliness of correspondents working on outside broadcast units is also in development.