The Series “Mr. Bates vs The Post Office” Uncovers a Historic Judicial Error

A television series depicting what is considered one of the greatest judicial errors in the history of the United Kingdom is achieving something that decades of complaints and protests had not been able to do.

The series deals with the so-called post office scandal, in which hundreds of innocent branch managers were accused of theft, fraud, and accounting irregularities at the British postal company.

Many were wrongly convicted and imprisoned for crimes they did not commit, but were denounced due to software failures, a web of lies, and lack of attention from leaders and authorities.

The affected people have been trying to obtain justice for more than two decades. But nothing had the impact that the television series “Mr. Bates vs The Post Office” did.

The reaction to the series on social media and in the press has been enormous.

The issue has dominated debates in the British parliament in recent days, and the government was forced to commit to multimillion-pound compensation payments and to promise judicial pardon for the innocent victims.

More than 1 million people have signed a petition calling for former Post Office manager Paula Vennells to lose an honor bestowed upon her by the UK. Eventually, she herself resigned from the honor.

Furthermore, the series inflamed public anger at the demand for severe punishment for the guilty parties and for the private company involved to be held accountable for the cost of the disaster, so that British taxpayers would not have to pay for it.

However, this is not the first time that the media has played a crucial role in this fight.

The scoop about the scandal was published in 2009 in Computer Weekly magazine, and the case was extensively followed and reported on by dedicated journalists over the years. In 2013, there were more than 300 articles on the topic, according to the magazine.

The BBC produced an award-winning radio documentary series in 2020, and later its investigative program Panorama covered the case.

In 2021, Nick Wallis, one of the journalists who led a long investigation into the case, published the book “The Great Post Office Scandal”.

And the coverage continued, accompanying and giving voice to those affected by the scandal who, gradually, were achieving some victories.

However, it was the broadcast, from January 1, 2024, of the series produced by the British channel ITV that aroused enormous public interest and increased pressure on the authorities.

Why now?

None of the main events presented in the four episodes of the dramatic series “Mr. Bates vs The Post Office” are new.

However, they exposed details of the scandal to the public eye.

But how and why now?

On the one hand, the series captured the attention of viewers in a way that a documentary might not be able to do, says BBC political correspondent Harry Farley.

“Many of the victims of this scandal were traumatized,” he says. “Their reputations were ruined, and as a result, they did not want to speak to journalists on camera.”

Through the actors, the true emotional drama was revealed, and for the first time, the public could understand the magnitude of the scandal.

“Many more people know what happened, thanks to the reach of the dramatic ITV series,” says Farley.

This means that the number of people pressuring their representatives in Parliament has multiplied, expressing their concern and anger over what happened.

And the politicians, who will be tested at the ballot box in this year’s general election, suddenly became interested in the case and urgent in showing that they are acting on it.

What happened?

The Post Office Ltd. (PO), the equivalent of the UK Post Office, is a large company with a good reputation, thanks to its long history dating back to 1660.