A new four-part ITV drama is coming soon to ITV and ITVX starring The Long Shadow’s Toby Jones as Alan Bates one of the many innocent individuals part of the wrongful prosecution scandal, which became one of the most significant miscarriages of justice in British legal history.
Written by Gwyneth Hughes, the story delves into the the harrowing tale of how numerous subpostmasters and postmistresses were wrongfully accessed of theft, fraud and false accounting due to a flawed IT system exploring at the period between 2000 and 2013.
It’ll also focus on 2009, a pivotal moment when a group pf subpostmasters from across the UK formed Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance, as they were fed up with the injustices taking place – marking the beginning of the fight for justice.
Many of the individuals faced prosecution and some even incarcerated for crimes they did not commit, which lead to irreversible damage to their lives and reputations.
Toby Jones who plays Alan Bates who along with his partner Suzanne used some of their life savings to move from Halifax in West Yorkshire to Llandudno, North Wales and buy Post Office.
In the trailer, we see Bates, played by Jones say: “We are fighting a war against an enemy owned by the British government, while we’re just skint little people.”
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Watch the trailer for ITV Drama ‘Mr Bates Vs The Post Office’ here:
Alongside Toby Jones is a stellar cast including: Monica Dolan, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Alex Jennings, Ian Hart, Lia Williams, Will Mellor, Clare Calbraith, Shaun Dooley, Amit Shah, Lesley Nicol, Adam James, and Katherine Kelly.
The series delves into the Post Office, and its defective and costly computerised accounting system named Horizon, that held thousands of its subpostmasters and postmistresses responsible for financial discrepancies.
Horizon had faults early on that the Post Office chose to ignore and pursue individuals stating that they were the only ones experiencing issues with the system. 736 were prosecuted, with countless more experiencing suffering job losses, being made homeless and saw their live savings disappear by compensating for non-existent financial shortfalls.
As well as imprisonment, others faced harsh conditions like pregnancy or whilst caring for young children. Many were unjustly ostracised and tragically, some passed away before any justice was served.
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Feature Image Credit: ITV
