Mr Bates vs. The Post Office

A brilliant portrayal by Toby Jones, and a magnificent exposé of an appalling episode in British public life, one which has yet to be brought to a satisfactory conclusion, and probably never will.

We live in Australia, where of two recent Royal Commissions, one uncovered massive wrongdoing by the banks, which resulted in many ordinary people losing their homes and their life savings, and more recently a flawed computer system called 'Robodebt' punished hundreds of thousands of innocent and vulnerable people, and led to several suicides. But were these ever made right? Well, tragically you can't ever undo the suicides, but did people ever get back what they lost, and were the guilty ever punished?

Of course not! Don't be so silly!!!!

The guilty were bankers in case one and politicians and senior civil servants in case two. Not a single one was ever charged with a crime, let alone convicted. No banker ever did time, nor did any politician. You see, they and Paula Vennells belong to a different class from us, a privileged class for whom the law simply does not apply. They live their lives of luxury, draw their enormous bonuses, and eventually retire with huge hand-outs, while we all struggle down in the mire.

My prediction is that Sunak will say that it is not within his power to rescind the CBE of Vennells, and that it would not be "in the public interest" for her to be prosecuted and sent to jail for all she has done.

Nothing to see here, just let's move on.

That innocent postmasters did jail time, and some were driven to suicide, was just collateral damage in setting up a new 21st century digital post office, and Vennells will no doubt still be praised to the sky for all her wonderful achievements in doing so.

People in Britain were once ruled by feudal aristocrats and royals. Now they are ruled by feudal politicians and executives. Not a lot has changed in all these centuries.

This is not really a review, but it's hard to write one while feeling so angry.

So here's the review. Brilliantly acted, very tight script and screenplay to fit so many years into four episodes. Toby Jones for a top award.

10/10, and deserves 20/10.

If you're not moved by this story you probably fit the job description for a job in the Post Office, or maybe our government? It's a truly shocking story and identifies some names who should hang their heads in shame whilst also pinpointing some of the good people in our society. I read one paper review that claimed the dramatisation lacked drama. Lacked drama! There's drama enough in this story to stand strong, how it wrecked lives and enriched others, the slow slog through molasses in search of the truth, but maybe some people aren't happy without some crash bang wallop? This is a very human tale of massive injustice and corporate cover up. Surely now there's momentum to bring justice and apologies to those still around to receive it? Fingers crossed ...

I'm glad that this horrendous story is finally getting the headline and prime time news that it deserves.

Paula Vennells and the Post office are an absolute disgrace. Knowingly sending almost 300 people to gaol for a crime that you know 100% they did not commit but was 100% fraud comitting by the Post office, under Paula's instruction, well there just aren't words to describe how evil Paula is.

This show is a fantastic portray of the corruption of the post office and how they not only cheated their loyal postmasters out of their live savings but also how they tried to cover it all up.

Hopefully not that this show has been aired the Post office will be held accountable and Paula will be stripped of her honours and gaoled.

Best ITV show of 2024.

This was riveting and we binge watched the 4 episodes and then the seperate Mr Bates the true story . The latter shows how accurately was the depiction of a true (and ongoing) story.

Really well made and acted

A shocking example of how corporate management will protect their brand image. That they can do no wrong and therefore cannot admit any mistakes or errors.

No matter who has to suffer as a consequence.

And when an organisation like the post office has the power to investigate itself and is virtually a law unto itself how the senior executives abuse that power.

The lengths the post office executive would go to try to cover up software mistakes was shocking.

Even more shocking was there has been no. Prosecutions of the post office management nor Fujitsu, (The post office CEO Paula Vennells was even awarded a CBE in 2020 )

You really feel the injustice to hundreds of sub-post masters who were persecuted, prosecuted and sacked. Which went on for years, despite the fact there was plenty of evidence something was wrong and post masters themselves had been saying so for years.

The issue was described as the biggest miscarriage of justice in Brtish history (and it is still yet to be resolved)

A vivid real life example of how big companies can never be trusted to 'do the right thing'. They will always follow profit and self interest.

How chief executives when allowed to be a law unto themselves abuse this power and the arrogance that they do not have to answer to anyone. (nor have they to date)

Riveting watch.

A spectacular miscarriage of justice affecting hundreds of ordinary people. The Post Office, in fact a government department, persecuted their employees for what turned out to be, their faulty computer system. The computer company and post office are shown to be heartless liars who made enormous efforts to cover up their mistake and hide the evidence. Eventually the employees achieve the truth and expose the errors. Some minor financial settlement is achieved that in no way compensates the hundreds of people whose lives have been ruined. A true David vs Goliath story that was quite upsetting to watch, not least because it is true!