This article contains spoilers for Mr Bates vs The Post Office episode 1.
Mr Bates vs The Post Office is an ITV drama based on the Post Office Horizon scandal which saw thousands of sub-postmasters across the country being accused of theft, fraud and false accounting which had resulted from their defective IT network.
Episode one introduces us to several of the victims of the scandal, including the titular Mr. Alan Bates (played by Toby Jones), a man who formed the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance campaign group back in 2009, along with several other postmasters grappling with the faulty computer systems.
Here's a full recap of everything that happened in Mr Bates vs The Post Office episode one...
Enter, Alan Bates
The episode opens in Llandudno, North Wales, on November 4, 2003. Several officials walk into Alan Bates' Post Office, claiming the shop is now closed owing to an accounting discrepancy and demanding to see his accounts. He refuses, so they call the police.
Alan explains to the officer that Post Office Ltd is claiming there's money missing from Alan's branch accounts, but he says this is a mistake, and blames the Horizon computer system for the errors. He claims they're trying to shut him down to keep him quiet; the investigator bites back, saying no one else has ever reported any problems with the system. Since no actual crime has been committed, the police officers leave, calling it a civil matter.
We then jump to South Warnborough, Hampshire, where we're introduced to Jo Hamilton, a shopkeeper and sub-postmaster; she's serving a customer and complains that bookkeeping has never been a strength of hers. Back in Llandudno, Alan and Suzanne find their post office closed, mourning the loss of their savings and jobs, but begin searching for a new place to live... but Alan is determined not to let the post office get away with things.
Back in Hampshire, Jo is on the phone with Horizon; she can't get her account to balance. When she walks through the process with the helpline, the discrepancy she's called about has doubled; it now looks like Jo's lost more than £4,000. What's worse, she's liable for the loss, per her contract.
Alan and Suzanne move into a cottage in the hills, though Alan has clung to all of his Horizon reports from the post office, seeing as he'd tried to contact officials who might help. Meanwhile, Jo logs her takings again and finds a £9000 loss. Later, she sits down with her mother and husband; she now owes £9,000 and has no leftover cash to solve the problem. So, the trio reluctantly agrees to remortgage their home to make good the missing cash, since they think it will solve the problem.
We're then introduced to Lee Castleton, a sub-postmaster from Bridlington, East Yorkshire. Although Horizon insists no one else has issues, he's on the phone with their helpline. He says he's called about shortfalls 91 times, and can't make sense of his accounts (Horizon tells them they're secure). He ends up requesting a visit from an auditor to find the problem he's been making.
Jo has identified another £1000 discrepancy; but this time, she manually adjusts the figure down herself, and outs the missing £2 discrepancy in out of her pocket, submitting a false financial report.
More problems
Back in Bridlington, the auditors leave the Post Office. Lee tells his wife they found £26,000 had gone missing from their accounts. She says they should go through their figures immediately, but Lee says otherwise. He's been suspended and locked out of the post office until they pay the money back, but he resolves to fight the judgment himself.
In Wales, Alan debates studying a Computer Science degree for his career, three years on from when they lost the post office. He plans to set up a website for other sub-postmasters to find and contact him about Horizon. "One day, we'll get the bastards", Alan says.
In Yorkshire, Lee's been scouring his accounts and found evidence that the system doesn't work properly in his records, supposing there's some sort of computer bug behind the problem. He decides to start calling other post offices to ask if anyone else is having any similar issues with Horizon.
In Hampshire, Jo continues to have issues with her accounting. Her mother comes round to the post office to tell her she's working too hard and needs someone to come down to help. Members of the Post Office investigations team soon come by to conduct an audit; they find a shortfall in Jo's accounts of over £36,000.
Jo is suspended with immediate effect whilst they investigate, prompting Jo to seek legal representation. In a subsequent meeting with them, Jo refuses to answer the investigators' questions. Later, Jo worries about being arrested, but her solicitor reveals Post Office Ltd can run their own criminal investigations. She's subsequently presented with a plea bargain. If she pleads guilty to her 14 charges of false accounting, she'll avoid prison time under two conditions: she has to make up the shortfall, and she must not blame anything on the Horizon system.
Lee gets a summons to the Royal Courts of Justice. He has to represent himself. His evidence-gathering finally comes good, as he makes contact with a sub-postmaster from Falkirk who has had the same issue as he has, where one of his terminals stops communicating with the Horizon system. Unfortunately, the guy is not willing to go on the record, as he 'doesn't want to make an enemy' of Post Office Ltd.
Heading to Fenny Compton
Lee goes to court, but he isn't able to put forward his case convincingly and lands himself an eye-watering total bill of over £321,000 when the judgment doesn't go his way.
Later down the line, Lee's on the phone with a reporter from Computer Weekly. He'd tried to seek help from the magazine and sent over computer logs to them. Whilst she can't help him, she asks if he knows if anyone else is having issues with the Horizon system.
On February 4, 2008, Jo arrives at Winchester Crown Court for sentencing. The judge decides not to impose a custodial sentence on her, but she'll have to carry out 12 months of community order and weekly probationary meetings.
Back in Wales, the same Computer Weekly reporter arranges an interview with Alan. She tells him she's found 6 other sub-postmasters with Horizon issues, and he agrees to get involved, calling for a public inquiry in her article.
Jo makes contact with some of the other sub-postmasters, including Alan. When she asks what they can do next, Alan retrieves the Horizon documents from his attic. Determined to find even more people with similar problems (including the two who contacted him via his website), Alan resolves to set up a meeting for former sub-postmasters in the village of Fenny Compton, Warwickshire.
On November 8, 2009, Jo arrived at Fenny Compton Village Hall for the meeting. Shortly thereafter, many, many more people arrive. Alan stands up and gives a rallying speech, telling everyone gathered there that day that none of them would be on their own anymore.
Mr Bates vs The Post Office is now streaming on ITVX and airing on ITV1 from Monday, January 1 to Thursday, January 4, 2024.
