Mr Bates vs The Post Office has left viewers on the edge of their seats and received largely positive reviews from critics following the first episode airing on New Year’s Day.
The four-part series is based on the real-life story of postmaster Alan Bates, one of hundreds of innocent subpostmasters working in the UK who was accused and later charged of theft, fraud and false accounting due to a faulty IT system.
Mr Bates is played by actor Toby Jones, who led the campaign to expose what is considered the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history, while Lia Williams plays Paula Vennells, chief executive of Post Office Ltd.
Viewers of the second episode last night were furious after being shown how the ‘secure’ £1billion Horizon IT system which led to the scandal could be accessed by the company behind the software.
With the third episode of the ITV set to air tonight at 9pm, and the fourth at the same time on Thursday, we take a look at where the real Alan Bates and Paula Vennells are now.
Mr Bates vs The Post Office is based on the real-life story of postmaster Alan Bates, played by Toby Jones (pictured in the role), one of hundreds of innocent subpostmasters working in the UK who was accused and later charged of theft, fraud and false accounting due to a faulty IT system
More than 700 Post Office staff were falsely prosecuted based on erroneous data from the firm’s Horizon computer system, which was developed by Fujitsu.
Some of these people were sent to prison after being convicted of false accounting and theft, some had their finances left in tatters and some will never see justice as they have since died.
What happened to Alan Bates after the Horizon IT Post Office scandal?
Alan Bates, now 68, who is being played by actor Toby Jones in four-part drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, was a key figure in bringing one of the UK’s widest miscarriages of justice to the light.
He helped to lead the campaign which revealed the Horizon IT scandal and brought the legal action against the Post Office in his name.
He and his partner Suzanne Sercombe used their life savings to buy the branch in 1998.
Mr Bates, who was a meticulous record keeper, started seeing unexplained losses in the accounts by the end of 2000, when a shortage of £6,000 appeared, WalesOnline reports.
Mr Bates had his contract as a subpostmaster terminated by the Post Office in 2003 after he refused to accept liability for £1,200 of losses in his branch in Llandudno, Wales. But he contended the money never existed and was due to a software glitch.
He and his partner kept the shop, but the termination of the Post Office contract meant they lost an investment of around £60,000.
Alan Bates, now 68, who is being played by actor Toby Jones in four-part drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, was a key figure in exposing one of the UK’s widest miscarriages of justice
Mr Bates initially thought he was the only subpostmaster or postmistress falsely accused of by the Post Office, who pursued them through the courts resulting in 736 being prosecuted over the non-existent missing money – with 86 being overturned last September.
And in 2009, he set up the Justice for Sub-postmasters Alliance (JSFA).
Mr Bates, along with a group of wronged subpostmasters hired solicitors to take on their case and in 2018, he as one of the six lead claimants, took the Post Office to the High Court in a Group Litigation Order (GLO).
In 2019 a judge ruled that the Horizon IT system had ‘bug, errors and defects’ and the Post Office agreed to settle with all 55 claimants who joined in the legal action.
After his relentless campaigning, he was offered an OBE in January last year for services to justice, but he declined it as the job was not done yet.
He told the Honours Committee: ‘I do appreciate that there may well be people who believe that after the many years of my unpaid campaigning, which I led in order to expose the truth, I deserve some recognition for my work.
‘But I hope you can understand why it would be so inappropriate for me to accept any award at present, while so many of the victims continue to suffer so badly and [Paula] Vennells still retains an honour and remains a ‘role model’ to the Honours Committee.’
Ms Vennells was awarded a CBE in the 2019 New Year Honours list for services the Post Office and to Charity.
Mr Bates won a special recognition award at the 2023 Pride of Britain Awards.
What happened to Paula Vennells after the Horizon IT Post Office scandal?
Paula Vennells was the CEO of the Post Office between 2012 and 2019, while the firm was falsely prosecuting subpostmasters on the basis of poor data from the Horizon IT system
Lia Williams (pictured in the role) plays Paula Vennells, chief executive of Post Office Ltd
Paula Vennells was the CEO of the Post Office between 2012 and 2019, while the firm was falsely prosecuting subpostmasters on the basis of poor data from the Horizon IT system.
Before the High Court ruling against the Post Office in 2019, she left and took up a new job a the chair of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
She said in a statement at the time: ‘By the time I leave, I will have been in the position for two years. While I will be very sad to go, it is a personal decision at the right time.
‘I am so proud of what we achieve across our hospitals – from the fantastic care and treatment to the outstanding research and education.’
She apologised after the Court of Appeal overturned 39 convictions of ex-postmasters in 2021, saying: ‘I am truly sorry for the suffering caused to the 39 sub-postmasters as a result of their convictions which were overturned last week.’
Ms Vennells was awarded a CBE in the 2019 New Year Honours list for services the Post Office and to Charity.
There have been many calls to have her honour removed, including from Labour MP Kevan Jones, who said he has written to the Honours Forfeiture Committee several times to get her honour removed.
He says he has yet to receive an answer and she still has her CBE.