ITV v. Post Office Ltd.: British series follows groundbreaking ‘Mr. Bates’ case

Television is much more than just a means for entertainment these days. In fact, ever since television sets replaced radio as the dominant broadcast medium in the mid-1950s, television writers have sought ways to incorporate realism and resonance into their art. Sure, some shows prefer to lean more into escapist elements, but many seek to connect with their audience by way of truth and representation instead. The few shows that can do both often see the results come awards season.

One show making waves this year for its veritas is ITV’s “Mr Bates vs the Post Office,” and while it is still too early to tell how many awards are coming down the pipe for the four-episode British miniseries, it has already sparked a “firestorm of public outrage” and forced the U.K.’s higher-ups to make a lasting change for the better — and some would argue that alone is far better than any award.

“Mr Bates vs the Post Office” makes its North American debut Sunday, April 7, on PBS Masterpiece (check your local listings) and the PBS streaming service.

Starring Primetime Emmy-nominated actor and BAFTA winner Toby Jones (“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” 2011) as the titular Alan Bates, “Mr Bates vs the Post Office” follows the very real story of one man’s quest to hold the government-owned postal service, called Post Office Limited, accountable for one of the biggest scandals in Britain’s legal history.

As early as the year 2000, subpostmasters — a title attributed to a selection of self-employed, Post Office Ltd.-approved post office managers — from all over the U.K. began to notice errors in their records. Hoping to rectify the issues and dedicated to solving a potentially huge system failure, several subpostmasters — including Bates, who was located in Llandudno, Wales — began writing the Post Office to voice their concerns about its Horizon IT system, implemented to properly manage the business’s many accounts. Instead of being touted for their proactivity and diligence, however, the subpostmasters were shocked to find themselves at the center of a kingdom-wide scandal.

“Horizon is an extremely robust system which operates over our entire Post Office network and successfully records millions of transactions each day,” Post Office Ltd. told ComputerWeekly.com in 2009. “There is no evidence that points to any fault with the technology.”

So confident in their own system, the British postal service chose to prosecute 900 of their “sub” employees from 1999 to 2015, sending a staggering 236 of them to jail for various financial “losses.”

Thankfully, due to the hard work and determination of Bates and the 500 or so fellow subpostmasters he led, Horizon and Post Office Ltd. were found responsible for a gross miscarriage of justice, with Horizon on the hook for nearly £60M in damages to affected subpostmasters after 19 years of legal battles.

“Our ambition in telling this story was simply that the subpostmasters felt heard,” said series executive producer Patrick Spence. “We were so angry on their behalf, we wanted others to feel it, too; and they did: the whole country is angry now! They rose up to stand beside the subpostmasters with such determination and such rage that the prime minister had no choice but to act within days. They certainly feel heard now.”