- Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office made a huge impact after it aired in the UK and is currently on PBS.
- The drama sparked public outrage over hundreds of wrongful convictions.
- The owners of a small post office were accused of theft, but a software flaw was to blame.
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A TV drama was needed to achieve justice. thousands of people Britain has been embroiled in what the Prime Minister calls one of the country’s biggest miscarriages of justice.
Just a week after ITV began airing Mr Bates v Post Office in January, Rishi Sunak told the House of Commons that the government would introduce a bill to cancel the convictions of more than 700 subpostmasters. He said he is doing so. They operate small post offices, often in small communities where everyone knows each other.
There’s a drama going on now Broadcast on PBSthe first episode will air on Sunday.
The scandal dates back more than a quarter of a century, when the Postal Service installed a computer system at great expense to modernize its operations. The system, provided by Japan’s Fujitsu, appeared to show that many postmasters were stealing money, but that was not actually the case. It was the Horizon system that failed.
Many were imprisoned, forced to pay off unpaid debts or have their businesses taken away, resulting in bankruptcy. Seema MisraShe was found guilty of stealing 74,000 pounds (approximately $95,000) and sentenced to 15 months for theft and false accounting. He said he had committed suicide.
Peter Hassam died by suicide in July 2020 after serving an eight-month prison sentence for missing £16,000 and a failing marriage.
Martin Griffiths, 59, jumped in front of a bus in 2013 after being falsely accused of stealing from a Post Office branch in Ellesmere Port, near Liverpool.
Marriages have broken down, some have been ostracized by their communities, and some have been financially ruined. For example, Julian Wilson died before he could clear his name. Each incident is shocking in its own way.
Joe Hamilton, who ran the Village Shop and Post Office in South Warnborough, Hampshire, was wrongly convicted of theft in the Post Office Horizon case.
Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images
Journalists have been covering Horizon issues for at least 15 years.including outlet computer weeklyPrivate Eye and public broadcaster the BBC covered the story extensively, but millions of people came to know about the incident by Toby Jones (who starred in Harry Potter and The Hunger Games). It wasn’t until it was made into a four-part drama starring the actress (who appeared in “The New Year”). Not to mention the immense pain and suffering caused to the postmaster and his family.
Toby Jones plays Alan Bates in the ITV drama.
ITV
The program focused on Alan Bates, who invested in a Post Office store in Wales in 1998 with a partner. The computer system identified a number of financial discrepancies, and when he refused to repay every penny, the Post Office terminated the contract. , £60,000 of investment was lost and livelihoods destroyed. For more than 20 years, Bates has campaigned for justice for hundreds of people like him. He was not indicted, but many others were.
a Letter to the Guardian John Beer’s newspaper in Farnham, Surrey, summed up the reaction of many: “Amid growing distrust and anger, some senior executives and boards are I saw it demonstrate the lengths to which people will go to protect their companies, even when they know people’s lives are at stake.” Good, honest people are being ruined or fired. That’s what I’m doing. ”
Spurred by public outrage, ministers took incredibly quick action to draft new legislation to clear the names of all those convicted, but cynics say that later this year They argue that the impending general election also helped focus attention. The Guardian reports that the latest acquittal appears to be the first time Parliament has been asked to overturn a court verdict.
Some convictions have already been overturned, but most have not, and the government’s investigation into the scandal is still gathering evidence and will not report until next year.
A huge number of questions remain unanswered.Why did the post office do this? government owned Since 2012 – Do we continue to prosecute people when we suspect software? And why has the government continued to award contracts worth around £5 billion ($6.4 billion) to Fujitsu? An appeals court ruled in December 2019 that the company’s software was flawed.?
There is also the question of whether taxpayers should be expected to pay £600,000 ($763,000) in compensation for each wrongful conviction. While this sounds like a large amount of money, activists argue that it does not compensate for the damage caused to many people, but only for the loss of income.
Government Minister Kevin Hollinrake said Fujitsu would have to foot its share of the bill if a public inquiry found it “responsible”. Fujitsu apologizes The Financial Times said it referred to the “suffering” of the postmaster generals, but made no further comment “out of respect for the investigative process”.
The actions of post office managers are also under renewed scrutiny. BBC News reported On Friday, the company lied before airing an interview with a whistleblower who revealed in 2015 that numbers on the Horizon system could change without users’ knowledge. It was revealed that he had been threatened.
Gwyneth HughesThe drama’s scriptwriter said in a press release that despite their pain and suffering, the victims of the Post Office scandal “manage to remain funny, warm and welcoming after 25 years of ordeal. .They were ordinary British people, living ordinary lives.” “British life used to be that way until suddenly it wasn’t,” she said.
“Suddenly they were called thieves and villains, trapped in a nightmare of false accusations and public humiliation.” We were told we were the only ones with “computer systems.” “
More than 1 million people have stripped former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennels of the public honor known as a CBE, which was awarded to her in 2019 for services to the Post Office and charity work. signed a petition asking for This week, the former Anglican priest decided to voluntarily return the honor, saying in a statement that he “genuinely regrets the devastation caused to the Deputy Postmaster General and his family.”
Alan Bates had refused a similar honor while Vennels still held it, but that could soon change. A spokesman for Mr Sunak said it was “hard to think of anyone more deserving” and that he could be a candidate for knighthood, Britain’s highest honour.
Alan Bates has been campaigning for a deputy postmaster for nearly 20 years.
House of Representatives/Pennsylvania/Getty Images
The end of network TV has been predicted many times, but it’s not quite over yet. It may just be because advertisers still think it’s the best way to reach mass audiences.
Nevertheless, if streaming platforms or even pay TV channels had aired this drama, it’s very likely it wouldn’t have had the same impact — simply because far fewer people would have seen it. The show and its accompanying documentary were viewed by approximately 15 million people. According to ITV.
Director James Strong told BBC News: “This is amazing. We wanted to raise awareness and tell the stories of the victims to a wider audience if we could, but no one could have imagined that we would get this kind of response and response. There wasn’t…” That’s surprising. ”
Polly Hill, Head of ITV Drama, said: Said: “We commissioned this show because it was a story that needed to be told. Like everyone who watched the show, I couldn’t believe what happened. We all hoped that this drama would help get that story heard by as many people as we did.” ITV is thrilled to be able to tell this story and support the Deputy Postmaster General. I’m proud. ”
“Mr. Bates vs. Post Office” will air weekly on PBS starting Sunday, April 7th.Episode will be available Stream for 14 days You can also stream it at PBS app, PBS passportand the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel.