Mr Bates vs The Post Office: who stars in the ITV drama based on the Post Office scandal, when is it on?

By Benjamin Jackson

Digital Journalist

1st Jan 2024, 4:00pm

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ITV’s dramatization of the British Post Office scandal involving the Horizon software arrives on our screens tonight with “Mr Bates vs The Post Office.”

“Mr Bates vs The Post Office,” which begins this evening on ITV and is set to run across the next four nights, brings to audiences a dramatisation of the long-running British Post Office scandal, which cost the livelihoods of hundreds of postmasters and sub-postmasters across the United Kingdom.

What was initially considered a series of financial liabilities for those working for the British Post Office, costing many hundred of repayments to offset any losses, ultimately turned out to be an error with the software being used - Horizon. However, the Post Office corporation refused to believe this was an error with Horizon and threatened many postmasters affected with prosecution.

A later 2014 forensic accountant's report would call Horizon "not fit for purpose" due to its errors. Prosecutions continued until 2015, and it was not until 2019 that the Post Office leadership acknowledged the wide scope of the errors. Since 2019, many of the prosecutions have been overturned.

Much like its real-life events, the synopsis for “Mr Bates vs The Post Office” from ITV reads: “A faulty IT system led to prosecutions of fraud, theft and false accounting for postmasters across the UK. In 2009, a group of sub-postmasters formed the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance. The prosecutions were later ruled a miscarriage of justice after the Bates v Post Office Ltd (No 3) judicial case (2019)”

The drama's title takes its name from the name of the court case centred on the Post Office corporation and the group of those affected taking legal action against them - "Bates and Group vs Post Office Ltd," which began on 15 March 2019.

Who stars in “Mr Bates vs The Post Office”?

IMDB lists the following performers in main roles in “Mr Bates vs The Post Office”:

Toby Jones as Alan Bates
Monica Dolan as Jo Hamilton
Julie Hesmondhalgh as Suzanne Sercombe
Alex Jennings as James Arbuthnot
Ian Hart as Bob Rutherford
Lia Williams as Paula Vennells
Will Mellor as Lee Castleton
Clare Calbraith as Gina Griffiths
Shaun Dooley as Michael Rudkin
Amit Shah as Jas Singh
Lesley Nicol as Pam Stubbs
Adam James as Patrick Green QC
Katherine Kelly as Angela van Den Bogerd
Nadhim Zahawi as himself

When does “Mr Bates vs The Post Office” begin?

“Mr Bates vs The Post Office” begins on Monday January 1 2024 at 9pm on ITV 1, and continues over the next four nights at the same time. The series will also be available on demand shortly after broadcast on ITVX.

What happened eventually with the British Post Office scandal?

Former subpostmaster at Hogsthorpe, Tom Hedges (C) holds a bottle of champagne aloft outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, on April 23, 2021, following a court ruling clearing subpostmasters of convictions for theft and false accounting. - Dozens of former subpostmasters, who were convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting because of the Post Office's defective Horizon accounting system, have finally had their names cleared by the Court of Appeal. (Photo by Tolga Akmen / AFP) — Former subpostmaster at Hogsthorpe, Tom Hedges (C) holds a bottle of champagne aloft outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, on April 23, 2021, following a court ruling clearing subpostmasters of convictions for theft and false accounting. - Dozens of former subpostmasters, who were convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting because of the Post Office's defective Horizon accounting system, have finally had their names cleared by the Court of Appeal. (Photo by Tolga Akmen / AFP) | AFP via Getty Images

Former subpostmaster at Hogsthorpe, Tom Hedges (C) holds a bottle of champagne aloft outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, on April 23, 2021, following a court ruling clearing subpostmasters of convictions for theft and false accounting. - Dozens of former subpostmasters, who were convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting because of the Post Office's defective Horizon accounting system, have finally had their names cleared by the Court of Appeal. (Photo by Tolga Akmen / AFP) — Former subpostmaster at Hogsthorpe, Tom Hedges (C) holds a bottle of champagne aloft outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, on April 23, 2021, following a court ruling clearing subpostmasters of convictions for theft and false accounting. - Dozens of former subpostmasters, who were convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting because of the Post Office's defective Horizon accounting system, have finally had their names cleared by the Court of Appeal. (Photo by Tolga Akmen / AFP) | AFP via Getty Images

Following a victorious group action lawsuit by the SPMs against the Post Office, the institution claimed that the compensation payments marked the end of the matter. However, as the scale of the issue unfolded, the Post Office asserted an inability to afford additional compensation. Calls for government intervention intensified, given its role as the sole shareholder of the Post Office.

In response to appeals by MPs in 2021, the government acknowledged the insufficiency of the Post Office's resources and pledged financial compensation for the victims of the scandal.

An independent inquiry, initially launched in 2020 and led by retired judge Wyn Williams, transitioned into a public inquiry in June 2021. By November 2021, it conducted a preliminary 'List of Issues Hearing' and, in February 2022, commenced a series of 'Human Impact Hearings.'

United Kingdom Wyn Williams ITV ITVX

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