I almost forget that the British television channels exist most of the time, and I almost never hear of anything worth watching on them. My usual terrestrial television watching extends only as far as Gogglebox, University Challenge, and Strictly Come Dancing. But it was hard to escape the buzz that was being drummed up by ITV’s new drama miniseries, Mr. Bates vs the Post Office. Based on an unbelievable true story that I had somehow missed entirely across almost two decades; I checked it out and was truly blown away by what I saw.
Following the implementation of a new Fujitsu created computer system, Horizon, in 1999; Post Office sub-postmasters began reporting system errors that were creating shortfalls in their daily revenue takings to the Post Office headquarters, and to Horizon support. Offering little in the way of advice or guidance and telling sub-postmasters that no other users were reporting issues, it became the responsibility of sub-postmasters to make up these shortfalls from their own personal finances, as stipulated in their employment contracts. By 2016 this had led to over nine-hundred sub-postmasters being in unrecoverable debt, many landing criminal convictions, and some even taking their own lives.
Following his contract termination in the early 2000’s because of this error, Alan Bates (Toby Jones) spearheads a movement to seek justice for wrongly accused and convicted sub-postmasters across the country. Meanwhile Post Office Ltd, with Paula Vennels (Lia Williams) as chair, seek to do whatever they can to impede legal proceedings, restrict media coverage of the matter, and lie to the courts to avoid any criminal implication.
You know you’re onto something good when the Post Office try to get your production shut down, and Mr. Bates vs the Post Office will certainly knock you for six even if you know the story. Considered as one of the United Kingdom’s largest miscarriages of justice, the Post Office Scandal has still not produced the kind of results those seeking compensation are after. There has been no criminal accountability for those in charge of the Post Office at the time of this Horizon problem, nor at Fujitsu, both of whom where aware of issues in the Horizon system but passed the blame onto individual users. Whilst there has been some monetary compensation for affected sub-postmasters, it is nowhere near enough to cover the money they had to pay out in the first place, nor the legal fees they contributed. Only since this drama aired has the government overturned the convictions of sub-postmasters that were pressured into pleading guilty. There’s a long way to go, and this show really has brought the issue to the forefront of people’s minds.
Following the implementation of a new Fujitsu created computer system, Horizon, in 1999; Post Office sub-postmasters began reporting system errors that were creating shortfalls in their daily revenue takings to the Post Office headquarters, and to Horizon support. Offering little in the way of advice or guidance and telling sub-postmasters that no other users were reporting issues, it became the responsibility of sub-postmasters to make up these shortfalls from their own personal finances, as stipulated in their employment contracts. By 2016 this had led to over nine-hundred sub-postmasters being in unrecoverable debt, many landing criminal convictions, and some even taking their own lives.
Following his contract termination in the early 2000’s because of this error, Alan Bates (Toby Jones) spearheads a movement to seek justice for wrongly accused and convicted sub-postmasters across the country. Meanwhile Post Office Ltd, with Paula Vennels (Lia Williams) as chair, seek to do whatever they can to impede legal proceedings, restrict media coverage of the matter, and lie to the courts to avoid any criminal implication.
You know you’re onto something good when the Post Office try to get your production shut down, and Mr. Bates vs the Post Office will certainly knock you for six even if you know the story. Considered as one of the United Kingdom’s largest miscarriages of justice, the Post Office Scandal has still not produced the kind of results those seeking compensation are after. There has been no criminal accountability for those in charge of the Post Office at the time of this Horizon problem, nor at Fujitsu, both of whom where aware of issues in the Horizon system but passed the blame onto individual users. Whilst there has been some monetary compensation for affected sub-postmasters, it is nowhere near enough to cover the money they had to pay out in the first place, nor the legal fees they contributed. Only since this drama aired has the government overturned the convictions of sub-postmasters that were pressured into pleading guilty. There’s a long way to go, and this show really has brought the issue to the forefront of people’s minds.
The story is well written, and presented in a clear easy to follow timeline. Considering how many major characters there are, how much time passes over the course of the series, and how many complicated legal processes are explored here, it never loses its head, and it makes sure that you won’t either, regardless of how much or little you know of the Post Office Scandal.
It doesn’t stick around long, with just four hour long episodes it moves swiftly through everything, the pace is lightning quick and there’s a lot to take in. I don’t think it would have hurt to have an extra episode or two, but at the same time I wonder whether that then would have risked going on too long.
The real draw of the series are the fantastic performances though. Toby Jones is always a delight to watch, and I do believe he’s one of the most underrated British actors working at the moment. Every single time I see him in something he is brilliant, and he is the glue that holds all the threads of Mr. Bates vs the Post Office together. But he’s not alone with delivering a great performance. Will Mellor of Coronation Street fame is also very good here, playing Lee Castleton, a husband and father of two, who’s struggles at home see his daughter bullied for his supposed thievery and them having to uproot to a new town because they were made to feel so unwelcome by their community. Monica Dolan is incredible as Jo Hamilton, a sub-postmaster that is pressured into a guilty plea out of fear of her finances. Her heartbreak comes more from how her sentence stops her from being an involved grandmother, because despite support from her community various childcare services simply can’t take the risk of letting her near children with her conviction.
Ian Hart also delivers an emotional performance as Bob Rutherford, the man tasked with conducting an inquiry into the Post Office; meanwhile Katherine Kelly stuns with her ice cold turn as Angela van Den Bogerd, the Post Office’s head of technology. Almost everyone involved gives a great performance, and these were just a few standouts, but everyone really pulls together to deliver some of the most heart wrenching British TV I’ve seen in years.
I would consider this essential TV for any license fee payer in the UK. If you have access to ITVX then this should be the top of your watchlist. It hits all the right beats, the entire cast delivers excellent performances, with emotional highs and lows every few moments. It makes your blood boil at the thought of this having actually happened, and clearly the Post Office are none too happy about it being made either. I often gloss over British TV and forget that it’s even there, but this has certainly changed my mind. If this is the kind of quality ITV are pumping out for their dramas then I clearly need to be watching more of them.
It doesn’t stick around long, with just four hour long episodes it moves swiftly through everything, the pace is lightning quick and there’s a lot to take in. I don’t think it would have hurt to have an extra episode or two, but at the same time I wonder whether that then would have risked going on too long.
The real draw of the series are the fantastic performances though. Toby Jones is always a delight to watch, and I do believe he’s one of the most underrated British actors working at the moment. Every single time I see him in something he is brilliant, and he is the glue that holds all the threads of Mr. Bates vs the Post Office together. But he’s not alone with delivering a great performance. Will Mellor of Coronation Street fame is also very good here, playing Lee Castleton, a husband and father of two, who’s struggles at home see his daughter bullied for his supposed thievery and them having to uproot to a new town because they were made to feel so unwelcome by their community. Monica Dolan is incredible as Jo Hamilton, a sub-postmaster that is pressured into a guilty plea out of fear of her finances. Her heartbreak comes more from how her sentence stops her from being an involved grandmother, because despite support from her community various childcare services simply can’t take the risk of letting her near children with her conviction.
Ian Hart also delivers an emotional performance as Bob Rutherford, the man tasked with conducting an inquiry into the Post Office; meanwhile Katherine Kelly stuns with her ice cold turn as Angela van Den Bogerd, the Post Office’s head of technology. Almost everyone involved gives a great performance, and these were just a few standouts, but everyone really pulls together to deliver some of the most heart wrenching British TV I’ve seen in years.
I would consider this essential TV for any license fee payer in the UK. If you have access to ITVX then this should be the top of your watchlist. It hits all the right beats, the entire cast delivers excellent performances, with emotional highs and lows every few moments. It makes your blood boil at the thought of this having actually happened, and clearly the Post Office are none too happy about it being made either. I often gloss over British TV and forget that it’s even there, but this has certainly changed my mind. If this is the kind of quality ITV are pumping out for their dramas then I clearly need to be watching more of them.