Toby Jones, the man who brought Alan Bates to life on screen, says he doubted “whether it was going to be compelling enough to watch as a piece of drama” when he first read the script of Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
Even Bates himself was sceptical, said Jones on the Media Confidential podcast: “He made it very clear very quickly that he was slightly cautious about the idea of a drama.” Bates also warned Jones it would be no easy portraying his character: “Unfortunately, I don’t express emotions, which I think might make your job a little hard!”
The producer Patrick Spence added that the show nearly fell apart before filming began because of budget issues. And when it finally did come out, Spence warned the team that it would be "killed in the ratings” by BBC's The Traitors. Despite low expectations, the show has been watched by over ten million people, making it ITV’s biggest new drama since Downton Abbey. It led to Rishi Sunak announcing a new law to exonerate the victims of the Post Office scandal.
Jones reckons it demonstrates an appetite for TV that isn’t just “crimes being solved and hospitals dealing with casualty patients”.
Cumming back on the West End
Alan Cumming, the Scottish-American actor and self-described “polymath”, is back on the London stage this week with a one-man show, Alan Cumming is Not Acting His Age.
Cumming has played God, the Devil and the Pope, but has topped it off as host of The Traitors USA. He says he feels “like a James Bond villain” in the role and has enjoyed bossing around contestant John Bercow, the braggadocious former Commons Speaker.
