Blair Loveday
I first heard about the Post Office scandal when I was discussing some bad experiences with an IT outsourced provider.
What I was told seemed unbelievable, as in I actually said there can’t be anyway that’s not a massive exaggeration. Then I looked into it, and if anything the horrors of this story where undersold. So naturally when I found out a mini-series was based on it I was hunting for where to stream it. Now you can enjoy this incredible drama on DVD, and so did I!
If you don’t know about the Post Office scandal, it was a horrifying shit-show that led to deaths. The super short version is that the Post Office in the UK rolled out a new accounting system called Horizon to all of its post offices. Thanks to the weird way it is set up as a company, it is encouraged to try and make profits. This meant that to protect losses, the financial responsibility for running the offices falls on the Sub-Postmasters. This was hunky dory, until it really wasn’t.
A bunch of the Sub-Postmasters found that the Horizon software was telling them that they didn’t have the cash at the end of the day that they should have. So after multiple failed attempts to get the technical issues resolved with the provider Fujitsu, the subpostmasters found themselves being harassed, and then criminally charged by the Post Office.
The Post Office and Fujitsu showed absolutely no interest in looking at a potential issue with the system. They threw their energy at telling hundreds of subpostmasters that they were the only one being affected, and then taking their life savings and in some cases throwing them into jail. Thanks to the accusations and in some cases criminal charges, we saw families destroyed, reputations destroyed, entire peoples finances destroyed, and it resulted in some people committing suicide. It is a horrifying story.
The mini series follows a stubborn Mr. Bates who isn’t content to just roll over and let the baddies get away with this. He gathers affected people together to start battling the Post Office, their lies, and Fujitsu’s lies through court. If you aren’t interested in the IT side of this, then you can immediately connect to the human side of it. The first episode starts a little bit slow, initially watching the issues occur. They seem so minimal, but it escalates fast with incredibly nice people facing horrifically over the top punishments. Then as we journey through the four episodes we are faced with the insane hurdles that Mr. Bates and the Sub-Postmasters had to face, that still feels unbelievable as it unfolds. I actually had to Google some of it as I went, as if this was fiction, it would be far too far fetched.
The story is helped with an incredible cast of actors. Toby Jones absolutely nails the role of the man who is obsessed with the truth, and is always compelling to watch. The wider cast may not be the biggest names, but they do a fantastic job of portraying believable people going through the worst crises of their lives.
The story of Mr. Bates Vs The Post Office is incredibly shocking and should be watched and understood by as many people as possible. It shows how much pain and damage can be done when people put their companies reputation above all else. Some of the stuff still feels unbelievable, and yet it actually happened. So I highly recommend you watch and enjoy this incredible dramatic mini series, but also remember the people that were lost in this awful scandal.
