EXCLUSIVE: With the almost impossible-to-believe Post Office scandal bedecking the front of most UK national newspapers this week, the writer of the ITV smash drama about the saga has said it “tapped into” frustrations with the “politics of the moment.”
Gwyneth Hughes, who penned the Toby Jones-starring four-parter, said the team has been “blown away” and “completely surprised” by the cut-through and media attention generated by Mr Bates vs The Post Office, as she detailed the legal quagmire and years of gaining people’s trust they went through to get the show from inception to screen. She was speaking in the hours before a motion attempting to put the scandal right was debated by dozens of lawmakers in parliament.
A week ago, most of the British public probably hadn’t heard of what is now considered one of the most egregious miscarriages of justice in the nation’s recent history, but it is now front and center on most newspapers, websites and radio programs out there, with real, tangible results hopefully incoming.
The Post Office scandal saw hundreds of British sub-postmasters wrongly accused and many prosecuted for theft, false accounting and fraud due to discrepancies that showed up in their accounts, which it has since been proved was the fault of a computer system called Horizon introduced around two decades ago. The Post Office remains a public and government-owned entity, which partly accounts for the story’s cut-through.
“I’m always saying to people that the best true stories are the ones that are the most unbelievable,” said Hughes, a four-time BAFTA nominee whose past credits include the BBC’s Five Days and ITV’s Tom Jones. “Everything about this has been unbelievable, including this week. It is a mad, runaway, juggernaut thing that has happened.”
Produced by ITV Studios and Little Gem, Alan Bates vs. The Post Office comfortably beat big-budget BBC drama The Tourist in the ratings last week, with around 3.5M per night tuning in and millions more on streamer ITVX. Hughes said the team had always thought attracting viewers in droves would be an “uphill battle.”
“The length, breadth and complexity of the story can be off-putting,” she added. “Before transmission our boss was trying to comfort us saying it probably wouldn’t do that well and asking us not to get upset when we get flattened by The Tourist. And it’s just built and built and built. The politics of the moment is frustrating everyone and, to our surprise, I think that is what we have tapped into.”
Cover ups have followed the scandal and it took years of hard work and campaigning for postmasters to be given compensation and have their names cleared, while hundreds of lives were ruined and some have died before seeing justice. This week, senior politicians have been calling for compensation to be rapidly sped up – possibly via a mass exoneration of the postmasters – along with stressing the seriousness of the ongoing public inquiry. Of at least 700 thought to have been affected by the scandal, less than 100 have had convictions overturned despite concerns raised a decade ago.
As a response to the ITV drama, which starred BAFTA-winners Jones and Monica Dolan, and The Crown’s Alex Jennings, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak went as far as calling for former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells to be stripped of her CBE, a happening that is given airtime in one of the episodes of the show. It is incredibly rare for a Prime Minister to comment publicly in such a way.
Legal quagmires
Vennells’ representation in the drama was the most legally murky and put ITV at a high risk of defamation, according to Hughes, and she revealed that virtually all of Vennells’ dialog was made up from emails that she had sent, transcripts of her conversations and Bates’ recollections of their numerous discussions.
“If we hadn’t found these things Paula had said in the past I don’t know what we would have done,” said Hughes. “ITV wanted to make it possible to write this thing but on the other hand they didn’t want a defamation case. Broadcasters are under the cosh about this sort of thing in a way that newspapers aren’t.”
This legal quagmire somewhat slowed things down and the show took three years to get from inception to screen but Hughes said this was no bad thing in allowing her to gain the trust of the numerous subjects, which was difficult at first due to her inability to meet people because of the pandemic.
“It was a huge responsibility,” she added. “Normally when you write a TV drama you have a responsibility to the channel, audience and to yourself to do something you would be proud of. In true stories you have a much more important responsibility, to the characters. You are putting people in danger, reliving horrible things or not being able to cope when it airs, and I wanted to be a part of the solution not the problem.”
It certainly feels as though Hughes helped provide the solution. Numerous politicians and prominent public figures have this week heaped praise on the ITV drama for bringing the issues to the fore.
“The whole country is angry now”
Producer Patrick Spence, who has known Bates for years and first came to ITV and Hughes with the idea, said the team had felt “naive” when “secretly dreaming” that the drama could “prompt action,” but not anymore.
“Our stated intent in making this show was simply that the sub-postmasters felt heard, that it might help in some way with the healing process,” he added. “And yet look at what can be achieved when an audience connects with a drama and decides action needs to be taken. The whole country is angry now.”
Hughes said Mr Bates has “certainly” had the biggest impact of any show she has worked on during a decades-long career.
“In anyone’s estimation it is a completely extraordinary thing that has happened,” she added. “There is lots of TV out there jostling for attention and often it feels like there are more channels than viewers so to cut through like this series has is extraordinary.”