ITV has brought out the big hitters for Mr Bates vs the Post Office, and deservedly so. The Post Office scandal is regularly referred to as the widest miscarriage of justice in British legal history, and it is a wonder that this sorry saga has taken so long to find its way to the screen. This dramatisation tells the story of the 20-year fight for justice, after thousands of subpostmasters were accused of financial mismanagement, hundreds were prosecuted and sent to prison, and countless lives were devastated. Except the only mismanagement was on the part of Horizon – the expensive new computer system that didn’t work properly.
Although some names have been changed and some scenes imagined, we are told at the outset that this is a true story, and for those not aware of some of the details of the scandal, it is a useful reminder that these seemingly implausible events, so corporate and cruel, did actually happen. Toby Jones stars as the titular Alan Bates, whose post office is adorned with a “Justice for Post Office Victims” banner from the very start. Over 20 years, he becomes a dogged organiser of those falsely accused of wrongdoing, who lost their livelihoods, reputations, freedom, and in some cases, their lives.
