MR BATES VS THE POST OFFICE - mon to thur ITV 9pm - tv pace no spoilers

[Blondeshavemorefun]

Mon to thur

Mr Bates vs The Post Office is an ITV drama based on a true story of injustice starring Toby Jones, Julie Hesmondhalgh, WIll Mellor and Monica Dolan.
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Mr Bates vs The Post Office is a hard-hitting ITV1 drama starring Toby Jones, Monica Dolan and Julie Hesmondhalgh among others.

The series details one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British legal history, where thousands of Post Office sub postmasters and postmistresses were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting due to a defective IT system.

Mr Bates vs The Post Office follows Alan Bates (Toby Jones), a sub postmaster who decided to fight back against a scandalous miscarriage of justice.

He was one of thousands of sub postmasters and postmistresses who between 2000 and 2013 were falsely accused of theft due to financial discrepancies thrown up by the flawed Horizon computerised accounting system.

More than 700 were prosecuted and several went to prison while others lost their homes and life savings trying to pay back the money the Post Office claimed was missing.

Many were unfairly ostracised from their communities, who believed they were criminals.

In 2009 Alan Bates decided to form the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance (https://www.jfsa.org.uk/), uniting thousands of his colleagues to
fight to clear their names.

He was great !
I do love Toby Jones though.

I agree Toby Jones was great so were the other actors. I really like Julie Hesmondhalgh as an actress.

Interestingly the current Head of Fujitsu UK was before a parliamentary committee and from the clip I saw he seemed to actually take responsibility on behalf of Fujitsu - no obfuscating.

Indeed.

It's perverting the use of justice, I would have thought.

I'm bored of seeing the itvx trailer for it though.

A chilling parallel between the behaviour of the Post Office, and the current treatment of benefit claimants by the DWP - having similar powers of investigation, doing deals for repayment in return for no charges brought, and more.
https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/post-office-horizon-software-originally-aimed-at-claimants?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Benefits%20and%20Work&utm_content=V2%2017%20Jan%202024%20Newsletter

So a few days ago this Poundland Gangster employed to be a PO investigate gave evidence at the PO Inquiry, lying through his teeth and showing absolutely no remorse for what he’s done to people. Rancid little bully. I’m not normally one for mob mentality but after what these subpostmasters had to go through i don’t feel once ounce of sympathy that the nasty duckers who enabled these crimes are being named and shamed

Weasel words "she was the only one to be investigated AT THAT BRANCH"

He still can't see he did anything wrong. Warns interviewees prior to interview that criminal investigation interviews under PACE are necessarily difficult and unpleasant. Which excuses his horrible behaviour.

Shocking isn’t it - nasty little bully

How do people like him go through life and never at least get a slap every now and again?!

Oh my goodness that clip of Steven Bradshaw! He was the person telling the “pack of lies”! Clearly a jobsworth with not an ounce of empathy or, it seems, intelligence who was making a lot of money to prosecute as many sub postmasters as possible. Who were the bosses paying him and giving him these lies to parrot? They need to be held to account, as well as him.

Weasel words, indeed!

Nasty, self-serving, manipulative bully - what a sorry apology for a man.

Plus - I'm sure that under PACE, the interrogator is NOT ALLOWED TO LIE in order to intimidate or trick a suspect. They can avoid revealing information they hold if they feel it would give someone an "out", and they can imply that they know more than they do if they feel it will prompt information to be forthcoming - but they are not allowed to lie, or to fabricate information in any way. I would also be very surprised if bullying tactics were condoned. It's one thing to ask "difficult and unpleasant" questions - it's quite another to intimidate and browbeat someone.

They are supposed to be looking for the truth - not getting a prosecution at any cost whether the suspect is innocent or guilty

Edited to say that I think that every penny of the bonuses he "earned" by pushing people to the brink of hell should be clawed back, and he should be prosecuted for the harm he caused. All of this "It was above my grade" stuff (paraphrasing) sounds too much like "I was only obeying orders".

He is scum.

I’ve been following this story for years. I’m delighted it’s finally getting the attention and outcry that it needed.

Betty Brown from County Durham is 91 and is the oldest ex post mistress who was a victim of this scandal.

Her husband died a year after she was pushed out, she thinks due to the stress. She spent all her savings making up the shortfall.

This story gets worse as it goes on doesn’t it?

My heart breaks for her, I saw that interview and she's a formidable woman. My rage is incandescent.

Shilly- Bradshaw is clearly a bully. He was implicated in sending innocent women to prison, they were daughters, wives and mothers.
And he got bonuses living off their misery and money that they wrongfully paid the Post Office.

He is scum but there must have been hundreds of Stephen Bradshaws.

They are just the SS henchmen. They just say “it wasn’t me gov, the nasty bosses made me do it”

They need to prosecute the top people and not just go for the foot soldiers like Bradshaw.

Private Eye. as housing was mentioned upthread

https://x.com/PeoplesAudit/status/1748319724042113215?s=20

DH and I have just started watching this tonight.

I'm gobsmacked. This is so upsetting to watch - I had no idea the sheer scale and outrageousness of this story.

Have just watched the bit where the guy goes to Fujitsu HQ, and my jaw dropped. I work for a bank, fiddling with accounts for no reason is reason for dismissal for gross misconduct. But at least our systems track whoever is doing that!

I do hope there will be a similar series on the contaminated blood scandal in the UK. (It also happened in Ireland).
What those people suffered is immeasurable and so many did not survive.
Their stories deserve to be told.

@LadyEloise1 it seems to be the only way to get recompense

There also needs to be a TV series on Rochdale.

Dreadful as the PO scandal was, and the TV series a harrowing watch, the Rochdale scandal goes way beyond even that.

Doubt anyone will have the guts to make it - although as a society we owe it to our young and vulnerable to do exactly that. In order to reduce the chance of it happening again.

Three Girls was about Rochdale

Yes - Rochdale has already been done - Three Girls. It was excellent - and had an excellent cast. Molly Windsor, Maxine Peake, Ace Bhatti, Lesley Sharpe.

If anyone missed it earlier in the year, the first episode is being shown again at 9pm tonight on ITV3. On every night this week.

Post Office scandal: Police to deploy 80 detectives for criminal inquiry | Post Office Horizon scandal | The Guardian