Following the premiere of the new ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, people have responded enthusiastically.
The complete four-part series is now available on ITVX, and single parts will run over the following four days, concluding on Thursday, January 4.
The film, starring Toby Jones and Julie Hesmondhalgh, is based on the real event of a significant scandal in which more than 700 Post Office branch managers were convicted of criminal charges after defective accounting software caused it to appear that cash was disappearing from their locations.
Before a group led by Alan Bates took the Post Office to the High Court, dozens of innocent individuals were imprisoned for theft and fraud, while others were driven to bankruptcy and suicide.
The series has upset viewers, who are outraged and perplexed by what has occurred.
Audiences came to X to express themselves, and many expressed the same thing.
As the first episode aired on ITV, Amanda Coleman wrote: ‘Already my blood is boiling. The importance of listening and questioning.’
Junior ones said they were just on the first episode and ‘already my blood is boiling … to think some people actually killed themselves and today some people haven’t been compensated is outrageous.’
User trainfanmatt said they were 20 minutes in to the first episode and agreed ‘my blood is boiling,’ slamming the ‘utterly abhorrent and disgusting’ way the subpostmasters were treated.
Gemma Champ was on episode one and was ‘already so so angry and stressed,’and user Tincansqat said their ‘blood pressure has gone through the roof
Sam Cook watched the series in full and said he felt ‘immense frustration,’ warning ‘there are several scenes in this that will break your heart … much like me you’ll probably feel shocked and angry that this injustice actually happened.’
The lost money was determined to be the result of computer faults in the High Court case, and the Post Office was compelled to pay £58 million in compensation for the false prosecutions.
However, when legal fees were deducted, the group was left with only £12 million, which amounted to about £20,000 per person, significantly less than some had lost.
By 2020, the government had launched an independent investigation, which was subsequently released public the following year, into whether the Post Office and software provider Fujitsu were aware of the IT system flaws.
It was supposed to be finished a few months ago, but it is still ongoing.
Alan Bates, the real-life Alan Bates, claims in the documentary Mr Bates against the Post Office: The Real Story that his struggle against the Post Office is not over.
Mr Bates vs the Post Office is airing across four nights from January 1 at 9pm on ITV1. Also airing on January 4 is Mr Bates vs the Post Office: The Real Story at 10.45pmon ITV1.