Going Postal:Mr Bates vs. The Post Office.

"Going postal" is described by the dictionary as "becoming extremely and uncontrollably angry, often to the point of violence, and usually in a workplace environment" and - if you leave the violence aside - you'd have to say that the over seven hundred (and rising) sub-postmasters who were wrongly convicted, by The Post Office itself - their employer, of theft, false accounting, and fraud over an astonishing nearly twenty year period between 1999 and 2015 would have every right, and every reason, to be going postal at their poor treatment.

The brilliant Mr Bates vs. The Post Office (ITV, written by Gwyneth Hughes and directed by James Strong) tells a story that never dominated the TV news headlines and never filled the papers but is now widely recognised as the greatest injustice in British criminal history. But sub-postmasters being badly treated by faceless suits and huge multinational companies isn't as sexy as wars and pandemics, or even celebrity catfights, so the story has not had as much as traction in the public imagination as it should have done.

At least until now - but we'll come to that. Our story starts in the Welsh coastal town of Llandudno in 2003 where Alan Bates (Toby Jones) runs a small post office. One day, a team of men in suits turn up and tell Bates that a significant amount of  money is missing from his post office and that he either has to pay it back or they will shut him down.

But Bates knows, even back then, that "the fancy new computer system" (Horizon, provided by Fujitsu whose UK HQ is in Bracknell) that "they've spent an arm and a leg on" is faulty. The heavies lie that nobody else has reported problems with Horizion. It's a lie they'll tell again - and again - and again.

Up and down the country the story is repeated. In South Warnborough, Hampshire, Jo Hamilton (Monica Dolan) is also having problems with Horizon. She's on the phone to the helpdesk constantly but they're not exactly helping. You can literally see the machine stealing money from Jo, her aghast face reflected against the black mirror of the screen.

In Bridlington, Yorkshire, Lee Castleton (Will Mellor) is having the same problem. His kids are being bullied at school and told their dad has stolen money from old people and Lee receives a summons to attend the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

Jas Singh (Amit Shah) and Saman Kaur (Krupa Pattani) are also wrongly accused, Noel Thomas (Ifan Huw Dafydd) from Anglesey serves a custodial sentence for a crime he didn't commit, and Martin Griffiths (Colin Tierney) takes things even worse than the other victims of this heinous crime.

Sub-postmasters, decent honest hard-working people, lose their jobs, they lose their homes, they lose their livelihoods, they lose their savings, they lose their reputations, they lose their liberty, and, in some cases, they even lose their lives. Bates, a quietly brave man who enjoys a pint in his local pub and a walk in the beautiful Welsh countryside, can't let it go.

He won't let it go. Even as the months become years. He calls a meeting for those affected and, somewhat bizarrely, hosts it in a village hall in the small Warwickshire village of Fenny Compton. It's a fairly central location so relatively easy to access from all corners of the country.

Soon, he learns of the scale of the injustice and he learns some other hard truths too. He learns that the Post Office can run their own criminal investigations and have been able to do so for more than three hundred years, he learns that Horizon is the largest IT system in Europe outside of the military, and he learns - from Michael Rudkin (Shaun Dooley), a former PO executive - that Horizon/Fujitsu staff were able to remote access (and, therefore, debit and credit) the accounts of sub-postmasters without their knowledge.

Eventually Bates manages to enlist some legal help and even a politician in the form of James Arbuthnot (Alex Jennings plays the former Tory MP for North East Hampshire, Jo Hamilton's constituency). Ian Hart plays independent investigator Bob Rutherford, Isobel Middleton plays litigation expert Kay Linnell, John Hollingworth plays the lawyer James Hartley, and Adam James plays the barrister Patrick Green QC (now KC).

It's a formidable team but their opponents have money on the side, they have years of public trust on their side, and they have a completely shameless determination to protect "the brand" of the Post Office on their side. No lie, no threat, no destruction of an innocent life is too much for them and they are represented, most brazenly of all, by their chief executive (and some time Anglican priest) Paula Vennells (Lia Williams) and her hard-nosed sidekick Angela Van Den Bogerd (Katherine Kelly).

Vennells, who remains a CBE - we'll get back to that, is very much the villain of the piece though it's worth remembering that there were people who employed her, people who indulged her, and people who ennobled her - and that they should be held to the fire too.

With the possible exception of nurses, there are few professions in the UK that are more respected than that of the humble sub-postmaster. My own grandmother ran the local post office and most people, in cities, towns, and villages will have enjoyed friendly and helpful chats with their local post office staff. 

There's something very British about it all - in the best sense of the word. This story takes place in a world of village halls, cups of tea, principled queuing, baking, piers, and Postman Pat telling Mrs Goggins not to worry, that her delivery will arrive in time. There's also something very British about it all - in the worst sense of the word. A failed justice system, an establishment that closes ranks to protect its own and hangs some of the most decent and honest people, the backbone of the country, out to dry. A corporate hellhole dominated by the interests of multinational firms and full of greedy, grasping, soulless, money men and women.

The powerful feelings this story have brought out in people is reflected in a very strong cast. Of course Jones, Dolan, Mellor, Shah, Pattani, Dooley, Kelly, and Hart are all excellent but it's also worth shouting out Julie Hesmondhalgh as Bates's loving, and long-suffering, partner Suzanne, Amy Nuttall as Lee's wife Lisa, Clare Calbraith as Martin's worried spouse Gina, Mark Arends as an anxious former Fujitsu employee, Richard Roll, whose testimony may just swing the case, and Lesley Nicol as Pam Stubbs, another wronged sub-postmaster who has reached the end of her tether.

There are even cameo appearances for former Today programme presenter James Naughtie and the Tory MP Nadhim Zahawi. Zahawi gives a strong performance (as befits a man who has represented a party whose entire existence is built on lying - or acting) and as he was sacked as Minister without Portfolio by Rishi Sunak for serious tax breaches last January he obviously had time on his hands to fulfil this role. He is, of course, still the Conservative MP for Stratford-upon-Avon but, hey, fuck that lot.

Much as any right-minded person will feel towards Zahawi's party, you will feel an overwhelming sense of anger watching Mr Bates vs. The Post Office. The injustice of it all, the fact it went on for years - decades even - as those affected by it still had to deal with all the usual shit that life throws at us, will not make you feel well disposed to those who knew what was happening and not only refused to stop it from happening but doubled down and made it worse.

It's to the credit of the cast, and to Gwyneth Hughes and James Strong, that it remains highly watchable and deeply engrossing and, as so often when dealing with painful subject matter, it is the scenes of hope and small moments of joy that shine the brightest against the backdrop of the inky dark scenario on which they're played out.

When Jo appears at Crown Court in Winchester and her family and friends come along to support and even applaud her, when the wrongly accused (and wrongly convicted) start getting in touch with each other and realising they are not alone and never were, and when we see some justice served up. Though not all - this is still very much an ongoing, and heartbreaking, case.

It is also a case that has been affected by the airing of this programme. As I write, a petition to strip Paula Vennells of her CBE has reached over one million signatures and the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is making noises about acquitting and providing proper compensation for the victims of this scandal. Sunak, up until this point - and much like his many predecessors - had been pretty quiet on this subject and, of course, it remains to be seen if his actions actually match his words or if him and his government will, like the Post Office did, play this for time and hope everyone gets bored and moves on to something new.

It's abundantly clear that as long as Alan Bates lives and breathes, he'll not get bored and he'll not let this monstrous example of corporate malfeasance become forgotten. Going postal yet? You should be.