Why Is Everybody Talking About Mr Bates Vs The Post Office?

If you’ve looked at the news recently, you’ve almost certainly heard of the Post Office scandal, which saw several hundred people who worked as sub-postmasters wrongly prosecuted for fraud. But it’s become such a huge story in the UK due to a TV series, Mr. Bates Vs the Post Office, created by ITV and starring Toby Jones.

With Parliament, the government and so much of the media covering it, it’s all gotten a bit complicated- so to cut through the noise, here’s a short explainer of what the show series was about, why it is worth watching and why a TV show has attracted quite so much attention.

What is Mr Bates vs The Post Office about?

The short drama has gotten over 10 million viewers since its debut, though if you’ve not watched yet, you might feel you’ve missed out. Mr Bates debuted on New Year’s Day, but over the last few weeks, it’s snowballed into a rare one-off drama that captured national interest and intense debate. Indiana Jones and The Long Shadow star Toby Jones plays the titular Alan Bates, who was a sub-postmaster (i.e. in charge of a small local post office) who had his contract with the Post Office company terminated along with over 900 others from 1999 to 2015.

Accusations of fraud, theft and other crimes led to these workers being prosecuted (though not Bates himself), but in truth was caused by faulty accounting software called Horizon. With little justice given to those convicted, the series sees Bates rally a group of those affected to campaign for the scandal to be recognised and for the convictions to be overturned.

Why is the series worth watching?

The four-part series, which also stars Monica Dolan (Black Mirror)  Julie Hesmondhalgh (You & Me), Alex Jennings (This Is Going to Hurt), Will Mellor (Coronation Street), Ian Hart (The Responder) and Lia Williams (The Lazarus Project), has gotten huge praise from critics and viewers alike since it debuted. In particular, it’s the show’s emotional resonance that captured audiences, as Bates tirelessly fights for others like him to be recognised as victims of a system that ruined reputations and caused many to lose everything.

While Alan has become the face of the campaign, other characters in the series like Jo (Dolan), Saman (Krupa Pattani) and Lee (Mellor) are just as important in showing just how wide the scandal was, and how many people were affected over the years.

What impact has it had?

The ITV drama hadn’t attracted much press before it aired, and the scandal itself, referred to as perhaps the worst miscarriage of justice in modern British history, was not particularly well known. Gwyneth Hughes’ series has turned that on its head, with a renewed focus on the scandal and forcing the government to pledge justice. With it likely to stay in the headlines for a while, you should definitely make sure to give the show a watch.

‌Mr Bates vs The Post Office is available to stream on ITVX, and you can watch the trailer below.