History Series / MrBatesVSThePostOffice

* DrivenToSuicide: Saman Kaur attempts to take her life due to her own sense of shame and hate being directed at her by the local press, but is rescued by her husband Jas. Sadly Martin Griffiths, does successfully complete suicide a few days before his appeal meeting against his contract termination by throwing himself in front of a bus.

Soon they begin a legal battle, initially with the assistance of James Arbuthnot, MP (played by Creator/AlexJennings) and as the fictional Bob Rutherford (Creator/IanHart), independent investigator who represents the real forensic account firm Second Sight who were appointed by the Post Office Limted to handle the case.

* ArcWords: "You're only one having this problem" - the BlatantLies from the ''Horizon'' helpline.

The story is mainly told from the perspective of Alan Bates (Creator/TobyJones), the founder of JFSA, and his partner Suzanne Sercombe (Creator/JulieHesmondhalgh). But with strong focus on other subpostmasters and mistresses and on the investigation team.

In 1998 Post Office Limited, the company who run the United Kingdom's post office network,[[note]]note a separate company to Royal Mail, who actually ''deliver'' the post[[/note]] began rolling out a new billion pound computer system from Fujitsu called ''Horizon''. Five years later in 2003, subpostmaster[[note]]a usually independant store manager who runs one or a small group of post offices as a self employed store franchisee, who if they have other staff is their employer rather than the Post Office Limited[[/note]] Alan Bates refuses to back down when auditors come to kick him out of his and his partner Suzanne Secombe's seaside store in Llandudno, Wales, after accusing him of false accounting.

Once his contract is terminated not only does he lose his job, but also the home he lived in attached to the Post Office itself. At first he and Suzanne move to a new part of Wales and Suzanne focuses on moving on with her life, getting a job as a cleaner whilst Alan looks to return to education. But Alan has never felt that he was justly treat by the post office and always knew the problem was with the ''Horizon'' system. And when he notices other news stories about subpostmasters and subpostmistresses being charged with false accounting, or theft in the press he beings to get even more [[ProperlyParanoid suspicious]]. After talking with former subpostmistress Jo Hamilton (played by Creator/MonicaDolan) and former subpostmaster Lee Castleton (played by Creator/WillMellor) they set up the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) and host a meeting in the church hall of English village Fenny Compton... which has dozens of other subpostmasters and former subpostmasters attend.

* SternOldJudge: Creator/PipTorrens as Mr Justice Taylor who firmly picks apart any discrepancies in testimonies, on screen we see this happen with Angela van Den Bogerd in particular who goes back on calling ''Horizon'' "robust" as the Post Office Limited has been insisting but then calls the system "clunky" which gets scrutinised. He is kindly however when a Fujistu whistle-blower is verbally stumbling on the witness stand and gives him a chance to gain confidence and firm up his statements.

* PleaBargain: Several subpostmasters and mistresses took plea bargains to reduce their sentences or avoid jail. In particular Jo Hamilton accepted a plea bargain to be charged with fraudulent accounting rather than theft to avoid jail, especially as whilst she new she never stole money intentionally she thought she was just making computing mistakes and blamed herself.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The very first scene has Alan Bates blocking the Post Office so-called investigators from entering his store, as he is still in charge until his contract ends. Then they call the police but he just explains the police officers that the Post Office has no evidence whatsoever of his alleged crimes, forcing its employees to relent and come back the following day. In just a couple of minutes, we not only see that Alan Bates is a man who knows his rights and the law and is completely unafraid of the Post Office, but also that the Post Office bosses are not actually interested in investigating what´s happening and finding the truth, they just send their men to threaten innocent people.

No current or former Post Office manager has face a criminal charge.

The story is mainly told from the perspective of Alan Bates (Creator/TobyJones), the founder of JFSA, and his partner Suzanne Sercombe (Julie Hesmondhalgh). But with strong focus on other subpostmasters and mistresses and on the investigation team.

Once his contract is terminated not only does he lose his job, but also the home he lived in attached to the Post Office itself. At first he and Suzanne move to a new part of Wales and Suzanne focuses on moving on with her life, getting a job as a cleaner whilst Alan looks to return to education. But Alan has never felt that he was justly treat by the post office and always knew the problem was with the ''Horizon'' system. And when he notices other news stories about subpostmasters and subpostmistresses being charged with false accounting, or theft in the press he beings to get even more [[ProperlyParanoid suspicious]]. After talking with former subpostmistress Jo Hamilton (played by Monica Dolan) and former subpostmaster Lee Castleton (played by Will Mellor) they set up the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) and host a meeting in the church hall of English village Fenny Compton... which has dozens of other subpostmasters and former subpostmasters attend.

Soon they begin a legal battle, initially with the assistance of James Arbuthnot, MP (played by Alex Jennings) and as the fictional Bob Rutherford (Creator/IanHart), independent investigator who represents the real forensic account firm Second Sight who were appointed by the Post Office Limted to handle the case.

On the Post Office Limited side Lia Williams plays [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Vennells Paula Vennells]] the former chief executive officer of Post Office Limited, Katherine Kelly as Angela van den Bogerd the Post Office Limited head of partnerships and later business improvement director.

The story is mainly told from the perspective of Alan Bates (Creator/TobyJones), the founder of JFSA, and his partner Suzanne Sercombe (Creator/JulieHesmondhalgh). But with strong focus on other subpostmasters and mistresses and on the investigation team.

Once his contract is terminated not only does he lose his job, but also the home he lived in attached to the Post Office itself. At first he and Suzanne move to a new part of Wales and Suzanne focuses on moving on with her life, getting a job as a cleaner whilst Alan looks to return to education. But Alan has never felt that he was justly treat by the post office and always knew the problem was with the ''Horizon'' system. And when he notices other news stories about subpostmasters and subpostmistresses being charged with false accounting, or theft in the press he beings to get even more [[ProperlyParanoid suspicious]]. After talking with former subpostmistress Jo Hamilton (played by Creator/MonicaDolan) and former subpostmaster Lee Castleton (played by Creator/WillMellor) they set up the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) and host a meeting in the church hall of English village Fenny Compton... which has dozens of other subpostmasters and former subpostmasters attend.

Soon they begin a legal battle, initially with the assistance of James Arbuthnot, MP (played by Creator/AlexJennings) and as the fictional Bob Rutherford (Creator/IanHart), independent investigator who represents the real forensic account firm Second Sight who were appointed by the Post Office Limted to handle the case.

On the Post Office Limited side Creator/LiaWilliams plays [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Vennells Paula Vennells]] the former chief executive officer of Post Office Limited, Creator/KatherineKelly as Angela van den Bogerd the Post Office Limited head of partnerships and later business improvement director.

In 1998 Post Office Limited, the company who run the United Kingdom's post office network,[[note]]note a separate company to Royal Mail, who actually ''deliver'' the post[[/note]] began rolling out a new billion pound computer system from Fujitsu called ''Horizon''. Five years later in 2003, subpostmaster[[note]]a usually independant store manager who runs one or a small group of post offices as a self employed store franchisee, who if they have other staff is their employer rather than the Post Office Limited[[/note]] Alan Bates refuses to back down when auditors come to kick him out of his and his partner Suzanne Secombes seaside store in Llandudno, Wales after accusing him of false accounting.

In 1998 Post Office Limited, the company who run the United Kingdom's post office network,[[note]]note a separate company to Royal Mail, who actually ''deliver'' the post[[/note]] began rolling out a new billion pound computer system from Fujitsu called ''Horizon''. A five years later in 2003, subpostmaster[[note]]a usually independant store manager who runs one or a small group of post offices as a self employed store franchisee, who if they have other staff is their employer rather than the Post Office Limited[[/note]] Alan Bates refuses to back down when auditors come to kick him out of his and his partner Suzanne Secombes seaside store in Llandudno, Wales after accusing him of false accounting.

In 1998 Post Office Limited - the company who run the United Kingdom's post office network[[note]]note a separate company to Royal Mail, who actually ''deliver'' the post[[/note]] - began rolling out a new billion pound computer system from Fujitsu called ''Horizon''. A five years later in 2003, subpostmaster[[note]]a usually independant store manager who runs one or a small group of post offices as a self employed store franchisee, who if they have other staff is their employer rather than the Post Office Limited[[/note]] Alan Bates refuses to back down when auditors come to kick him out of his and his partner Suzanne Secombes seaside store in Llandudno, Wales after accusing him of false accounting.

In 1998 the Post Office Limited the company who run the United Kingdom's post office network[[note]]note a separate company to Royal Mail, who actually ''deliver'' the post[[/note]] began rolling out a new billion pound computer system from Fujitsu called ''Horizon''. A five years later in 2003, subpostmaster[[note]]a usually independant store manager who runs one or a small group of post offices as a self employed store franchisee, who if they have other staff is their employer rather than the Post Office Limited[[/note]] Alan Bates refuses to back down when auditors come to kick him out of his and his partner Suzanne Secombes seaside store in Llandudno, Wales after accusing him of false accounting.

''Mr Bates vs The Post Office'' is a British MiniSeries from Little Gem and Creator/{{ITV}}, which first aired in January 2024. It's written by Gwyneth Hughes and directed by James Strong.

A four part Creator/{{ITV}} DocuDrama MiniSeries that first aired in January 2024, telling a dramatisation of the true life story of the legal fight between the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) and Post Office Limited, mainly from the point of view of Alan Bates, played by Creator/TobyJones, the founder of JFSA as well as his partner Suzanne Sercombe played by Creator/JulieHesmondhalgh. But with strong focus on other subpostmasters and mistresses and on the investigation team.

* InconvenientlyVanishingExoneratingEvidence: For the first four episodes whenever the JFSA get a hold of documents through freedom of information requests or the investigation team requests access the documents are either redacted, doctored or missing. The Fujitsu UK headquarters also "conveniently" doesn't have any record of Michael Rudkin's visit on the day he shown it's employees accessing subpostmasters ''Horizon'' accounts. Thankfully he kept his invite email.

* DrivenToSuicide: Saman Kaur attempts to take her life due to her own sense of shame and hate being directed at her by the local press, but is rescued by her husband Jas. Sadly Martin Griffiths, does successfully complete suicide a few days before his appeal his contract termination by throwing himself in front of a bus.

Soon they begin a legal battle, intially with the assistance of James Arbuthnot, MP (played by Creator/AlexJennings) and as the fictional Bob Rutherford (Creator/IanHart), independent investigator who represents the real forensic account firm Second Sight who were appointed by the Post Office Limted to handle the case.

* ArcWords: "Your only one having this problem" - the BlatantLies from the ''Horizon'' helpline.

This is a dramatisation based on real events, so things that might otherwise be treated as spoilers are [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff unmarked]] on this page.

* SternOldJudge: Creator/PipTorrens as Mr Justice Taylor who firmly picks apart any discrepancies in testimonies, on screen we see this happen with Angela van Den Bogerd in particular who goes back on calling ''Horizon'' "robust" as the Post Office Limited has been insisting but then calls the system "clunky" which gets scrutinised. He is kindly however when a Fujistu whistle-blower is verbally stumbling on the witness stand and gives him a chance to gain confidence and firm up his statements.

* MiscarriageOfJustice: The subpostmasters are innocent despite the insistence of the Post Office, who terrified many of them into either taking a PleaBargin to avoid jail; or in rare cases some subpostmasters did wind up doing jail time. Eventually at least 90 of these convictions were overturned. All to protect the "Post Office" brand. The real case that the series is based on was described in the press as "the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history".

* ArcWords: "Your only one having this problem" - the BlatentLies from the ''Horizon'' helpline.
* BackfireOnTheWitnessStand: Lee