Toby Jones in Mr Bates vs the Post Office / Nick Read
TV

Post Office issues apology following release of new ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office

The new drama launched last night

The Post Office has issued an apology following the launch of new drama, Mr Bates vs the Post Office on ITV.

The new drama tells the story of “one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British legal history”.

The cast of Mr Bates vs The Post Office
The new drama launched last night (Credit: ITV)

Mr. Bates vs The Post Office launches on ITV

The new ITV drama depicts the British Post Office scandal. The scandal has since been dubbed one of the “greatest miscarriages of justice” in British legal history.

Hundreds of innocent sub-postmasters and postmistresses were wrongly accused of theft, fraud, and false accounting. This was thanks to a defective IT system.

Due to that faulty IT system, 739 were prosecuted. Hundreds more lost livelihoods, homes, and life savings because they paid back the money the Post Office claimed was missing. Several even went to prison.

The new four-part drama tells the story of how in 2009, a group of subpostmasters across Britain decided enough was enough and formed the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance.

Toby Jones, Julia Hesmondhalgh, and Katherine Kelly star.

Post Office issues apology following launch of Mr Bates vs The Post Office

Now, the Post Office has issued an apology to those affected by the scandal.

The apology was shared by the official Post Office Twitter account for 64.5k followers to see.

“We sincerely apologise to victims for the devastating impact of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal on the lives of so many,” they said.

“We are doing all we can to provide redress and urge anyone affected who has not yet come forward to do so,” they then added.

In a video, the Post Office chief executive, Nick Read, said that his “commitment to address the consequences of the Horizon scandal, the victims, has been unwavering”.

Toby Jones
Toby Jones’ performance has been praised (Credit: ITV)

Viewers react to new drama

The drama has proven to be a success with viewers already. Many took to Twitter to deliver their verdict last night (Monday, January 1).

“Very well done with the ever impressive Toby Jones,” one fan tweeted. “The first episode of Mr Bates vs the Post Office on @ITV was absolutely brilliant tonight, Toby Jones always delivers a great performance whatever he’s in,” another said.

“Mr Bates v The Post Office what a great drama, highlighting an unbelievable injustice to these poor people,” a third said.

Read more: Mr Bates vs The Post Office: The shocking true story behind the scandal and the failure of the Horizon system

Mr Bates vs The Post Office continues tonight (Tuesday, January 2) at 9pm on ITV1. All four episodes can be streamed on ITVX.

Mr Bates vs The Post Office | Coming soon to ITV1 and ITVX | ITV

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Robert Emlyn Slater
Senior Writer