‘Mr Bates Vs The Post Office’ up for another TV award

‘Mr Bates Vs The Post Office’ is up for another TV award.

The hit ITV1 drama starred Toby Young, 60, as Alan Bates – one of five sub-postmasters who led a campaign to expose the miscarriage of justice resulting from computer glitches that led the Post Office to wrongly accuse staff of theft, false accounting and fraud.

It has already won trophies at the Broadcasting Press Guild, RTS and TRIC awards and has now been nominated for a Sky Arts gong.

The show will be up against two other programmes in the TV category of the channel’s awards – BBC One’s ‘The Sixth Commandment’ and BBC Two documentary ‘Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland’, with the winner to be announced on 17 September when the awards will air on Sky Arts and Freeview.

More than 900 Post Office managers were convicted between 1999 and 2015 after faulty accounting software Horizon falsely made it seem as if money was missing.

Actor Toby told PBS about why he took the part of Alan Bates: “In amongst all of the news that we hear daily, it felt like this particular scandal had been hiding in plain sight.

“I was aware that on occasion, I would hear ‘postmasters’ mentioned and truly, there is no other explanation for it, to my shame – I hadn’t understood the full severity of the story.

“I can only assume that it’s partly because when you hear ‘Post Office’, you take for granted what this institution does.

“There is a scene in this particular drama where there is effectively a bank robbery. I remember reading that particular scene and thinking ‘Of course!’.

“In these communities, there’s a lot of money in these deliberately inconspicuous buildings that have been there for my whole life, run by people who are often deliberately inconspicuous as well.

“They don’t draw attention to themselves and as a result, they are truly, completely trustworthy people.

“It is shocking, just how appalling this scandal is. When people watch the drama, if we have done our job, it will make them see a senselessness and vindictiveness to this scandal that makes you wonder how on earth it isn’t being spoken about more.”